Katerina Saburova

Pathologic 2=

Katerina Saburova (Катерина Сабурова) is the wife of Alexander Saburov and the Earth Mistress.

Description
"By status, she’s the chief ruler and prophetess; in reality, she’s an impostor, a person in a position she shouldn’t be in. She dreams of having a child and is tormented by her barrenness. Morphine has put her at death’s door. In her intrusive visions, an alraune/nagual manifests itself to her—the Rat Prophet, who bogs her that much deeper in melancholy and lack of faith. She genuinely wants to do good for the town and take care of it in a real way, “like Nina and Victoria”. Alexander and she are the most loving couple among our characters, earning respect and admiration for their mutual feeling not only surviving the hell they’d been through but getting stronger along the way."

- From the game's design documents

Katerina is one of the three Mistresses in town, and remains the oldest one after the passing of Nina Kaina and Victoria Olgimskaya. She is married to Alexander Saburov. Though acknowledged as one of the town's Mistresses, Katerina's vision are often doubted due to their dubious nature, muddled with vague language and meandering truths. She and her husband adopt Clara at the beginning of Pathologic.

During the course of the game, the townsfolk try to find the cause of the outbreaks, and a mob blames the Saburovs after a rumour begins that they are housing a young woman who is a carrier. If the player chooses to investigate this suggestion, it is discovered the Saburovs are not the cause of the outbreak, but it is also discovered that the Rat Prophet provides her the visions that she tries to grapple with. The player is unable to assist her, but does seem to banish the Rat Prophet, however temporarily.

Background
Her position as a Mistress was held alongside Nina Kaina and Victoria Olgimskaya, the Mistresses of Dark and Light respectively. While both were alive, she occupied an intermediate position. After the death of Nina she began to play the role of Mistress of the Dark, but after Victoria's death could not revert to the light.

Description
"It's hard to bow your head to Katerina. She is neither a dreamer nor a prophetess."

- Andrey Stamatin

Katerina is much weaker than the forces of the deceased Mistresses. Unlike them, she is neither dark nor light, torn between two principles. Her words are vague; they cannot be expressed clearly, since, according to her, details distort the essential meaning and devalue what is said. Many citizens doubt the truth of her prophecies, in part due to her morphine addiction.

However, despite Katerina's dubious ability, some citizens trust her visions. According to Capella, the visions of Katerina are true in general, but the little things are often distorted. Katerina herself knows this and thus refuses to clearly and unequivocally formulate her prophecies.

At night, she is visited by the strange Rat Prophet, who whispers to her and influences her prophecies.

Portrait Quotes
"A queen turned witch. That's what you get for dabbling with the spirits of the night. After Nina died, Katerina shamelessly rushed to take the place of the Dark Mistress; the burden of caring for the town was Victoria's, so petty games were still allowed. She got carried away though... Rumor has it, she needs daily morphine injections and welcomes cold-skinned visitors in her alcove at night..."

- Aspity's take on her "Katerina took a hard hit and managed to pull through. Who could survive between Nina's rock and Victoria's hard place? That's how the town worked back then—upon this rock Nina was forging it, while Victoria maintained a firm stance to keep it in check; Katerina was the one to ensure the balance was in place. I also admire how much Alexander and she love each other. They could have been the grand kings of old—noble, resolute, and honest. Now is simply the wrong time for them."

- Lara Ravel's take on her

Spoken Dialogue

 * → See Katerina Saburova/Spoken Dialogue