𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎

Sandrone, codenamed "Marionette," is the Seventh Fatui Harbinger in Genshin Impact, a genius mechanic and researcher from Fontaine known for her work with automatons, including the Clockwork Meka. She is based on the Commedia dell'arte character of the same name, and her codename reflects her puppet-like nature, with theories suggesting she is a puppet herself, possibly controlled by a larger automaton housing the consciousness of her creator, Alain Guillotin, or even a copy of his deceased sister, Mary-Ann. Her personality is described as cold and cruel, but she shows a softer, tsundere side to her fellow Harbingers, mourning their losses and hosting tea parties. A superclass engineer and mechanic specializing in automatons, managing the Kuuvahki Experimental Design Bureau in Nod-Krai. Sandrone was first mentioned in the description of Tartaglia's Character Tale, "Childe: Sigil of Permission," which recounts that she once admonished Javert. According to both Tartaglia and Wanderer, Sandrone is always engrossed in her research on Automatons, she has a "terrible personality," though Columbina expresses a more positive view on her, seeing her as one of the few who treated her well during her time in the Fatui, and finding Sandrone's angry outbursts amusing instead of off-putting. Following her interactions with the Traveler and Columbina, Sandrone showed more concern for her friends, which Dottore noted was uncharacteristic of her. She is also the creator of the Katherynes. She was stationed to oversee the Kuuvahki Experimental Design Bureau by order of the "Palestar Edict," the highest of the Tsaritsa's commands, for which the Fatui Harbingers have been summoned to Nod-Krai to retrieve Columbina at all costs after the latter defected from the Fatui. A clockwork puppet, Sandrone has lived at least since around the time of the cataclysm 500 years ago. She dislikes losing and often has numerous backup plans to use as failsafes. Sandrone is remarkably similar to a human; her body bleeds, and she is capable of touch, taste, and smell. She doesn't merely measure the ambient temperature around her, but can feel it. It is not known if she actually requires them, but she enjoys eating food, with a preference for dishes from her native Fontaine, and also likes sleeping.

Story Sandrone was personally created by Alain Guillotin and first activated on his 65th birthday, modeled after his deceased sister Mary-Ann. She was a special creation of his, as she had an emotion module which allowed her to learn and process feelings. Alain would frequently give Sandrone notebooks, most of which she initially discarded after a few strokes. Eventually, she chose not to discard one of them and began learning to record. Over time, Sandrone's learning capabilities exceeded his expectations, and he gave her a new creation also of his own making, Pulonia, which was meant to calculate the unknown, though he admitted to her he himself didn't know what that "unknown" would be. Pulonia was used to help Sandrone with basic tasks. Before Alain passed away, he asked Sandrone to destroy all of his manuscripts so they couldn't be stolen. Sandrone agreed to do so, though she read them all beforehand, since she did not want his work to go to waste. He also requested that Pulonia be brought to the Fontaine Research Institute, though because she felt no one would be able to maintain it as well as she could, decided to have it accompany her, improving upon its task performance. Sandrone eventually arrived at Snezhnaya for a new "job" with the Tsaritsa, eventually becoming the Seventh of the Fatui Harbingers. Her tasks were not known, though she would frequently meet with Columbina, Arlecchino and Signora, finding the former two "annoying," though she tolerated most of her colleagues, apart from Dottore. At some point after Scaramouche obtained the Electro Gnosis and cut off contact from the Fatui, Sandrone and her fellow Harbingers attended Rosalyne's funeral. She calls Pulcinella, Pantalone, and Arlecchino's banter laughable and when the other Harbingers pay their respects at Signora's coffin by closing their eyes, Sandrone notably does not.

In Fontaine Sandrone took an interest in Mosso Lombroso's work and his creation, "Curve". To get ahold of Curve and Mosso's research notes on creating Curve, she made contact with Baulande and Jenck. Jenck secured the research notes, but his attempt to cover up his crimes by killing the Traveler, Paimon and Talochard only succeeded in destroying Curve (because of Anos). Displeased, Sandrone had Jenck's mind broken, his tongue cut out and replaced with an apology note to the three survivors, then left trussed up inside the Opera Epiclese to be found. Euphrasie surmises that Jenck's backer left an apology either because they did not want to make enemies out of the three, or because they felt remorse at Curve's destruction. Sandrone's subordinates were able to recover Curve's core, but while transporting it to Nod-Krai it was stolen by the Fruity Order who hid it in one of Aino's robots before escaping to parts unknown. The damaged core would reawaken as a new personality based on Talochard, and be given the name Chard Lombro.

In Natlan At some point, Sandrone created the artificial Fatuus Velimiru and sent him and a special ops force to Natlan in order to learn more about the Secret Source. She gave him a replica of a Secret Source core that allowed them to override the original administrators if they resisted, and warned him that the Traveler's capabilities made them a potential threat to the operation. During the Archon Quest Song of the Welkin Moon: Prelude - The Journey Home, the special ops force ultimately falls to Ix Raq'lapuj Chue'q Buluk, the Eleventh of the Thirteen Sovereign Lords, leaving the mission a failure. Though annoyed, Sandrone simply considered the venture a side project.

Following the incident in Nod-Krai, Sandrone put modifications on Pulonia to better combat the Wild Hunt, intervening in a fight against Rerir, Flins, Anos and the Traveler. Pulonia's upgrades are ultimately insufficient to fight Rerir (even at 10% of his strength), but before the fight could continue, Columbina teleports them to Silvermoon Hall. Sandrone scolds Columbina for interrupting their fight, but Columbina remarks that her recent calculations had been significantly off. She then reminds her that the Fatui still had a warrant out for her, though she chooses not to fight her (due to many reasons most with Anos there) and leaves with Pulonia. When Columbina arrived at the facility, Sandrone was somewhat unamused to see her. Columbina asked her to help meet Arlecchino, which Sandrone reluctantly accepted before the Wild Hunt burst into the facility looking for the former Harbinger. Upon spotting Rerir, she sent Pulonia on him, but he had no interest in fighting her and easily incapacitated Pulonia in seconds. Arlecchino later received her message and, while she went to see Columbina herself, sent Lyney, Lynette and Freminet to help her at the Bureau. Sandrone had Freminet help repair the damaged landcruisers while asking Lyney to keep his sister away from them. After Rerir's defeat, Arlecchino met with Sandrone at the bureau, asking about Dottore. Sandrone stated that he was not capable of human interaction but told her that he hadn't bothered her, prompting the two to suspect that he was up to something Sandrone later confronted Dottore over his actions and was disgusted when she discovered that he was turning her subordinates into monsters. She agreed to help the Traveler stop him, and with the help of Albedo and the Wanderer, created a formula that would bring Columbina back. The formula was partially completed, as the remainder required Varka, Nicole and Arlecchino to bring the moon down. In order to trick him, she placed the real formula in Pulonia while creating a fake one for herself. Along with Pulonia, she confronted Dottore and assisted the Traveler, but they were still overpowered by him. As Dottore attempted to finish the Traveler off, Sandrone took the strike meant for them. Dottore asked Sandrone what her final words would be, and she used the time to tell Dottore to go to hell, prompting him to finish her off (Sandrone in the lore currently is dead but some evidence says she'll revive). With her deception successful, Columbina was able to return to Teyvat with Anos and destroyed Dottore, avenging her demise, afterward rushing to her lifeless body to mourn. Per her verbal will years earlier, Arlecchino extracted both her and Pulonia's cores so they could be sent to the Fontaine Research Institute. Arlecchino took a few keepsakes as willed to her to be used as mementos stored at the House of the Hearth, while sending one book to the Traveler, having been told specifically by Sandrone not to let Columbina know of it, though Arlecchino wouldn't speculate as to why. Additionally, some associates of hers in Fontaine would sort out some arrangements.