[CHAR] Marvel Comics: Dawn of X

[Ruby]

JEAN GREY

30 Years Old ⭙ Krakoan/American ⭙ Quiet Council of Krakoa

⭙ _{H I S T O R Y} ⭙

She is the most recent field leader of the X-Men, a member of the original five, and a mutant leader that's become one of the faces of Krakoa to the wider world and mutants making their way to the island. All of that before a mention of a certain cosmic force. Perhaps more importantly for the future, Jean is one of the very few mutants Krakoans could trust to challenge any faction or member of leadership on the island should need arise. Her story starts as a girl, the car crash on an old two-line highway. She remembers more of it than she'd like, the heat and the concrete and the glass and the blood. The crash began the slow cascade of psychic episodes, culminating in terrified parents calling everyone from trusted clergy to pseudo-specialists out to the family's farmhouse on the Annadale-on-Hudson river. When Jean looks back, now, she understands. As a child, however, loss and death were insurmountable cliff faces she would have to climb each day. It's occurred to Jean recently that there's no telling when extra-dimensional forces might have been nudging her life in one direction, or another. She knows from experience from other timelines and time-travelers that her presence on the first team of X-Men made a difference in the vast multi-verse.

Her first meeting with Xavier was rather unspectacular. He won over her parents well before her won her over. There's no understating what Charles Xavier did to save Jean during the early years. Her drift towards the great void had already begun by the time he even met her, providing a small window of time to help bring Jean back to life. Experiencing death, and the full trauma of it from her own perspective, was enough to send Jean Grey running the ethereal and astral in search of anything, or anyone. She mostly found memories, psychic reflections of reality that burn like small stars, but after enough time she began to experience the echoes of others. Xavier states this is when he came to discover Jean Grey, the telepath. The best account is Xavier's, "the reason she was on the team, the reason she became so central, was because we didn't know the upper-limits of her ability. Yet few know the utility of that mutant gift such as I do." Regardless of intention, Jean spent most of the first few years ducking for cover and yelling for help. It was a disaster. Xavier insisted on having her focus on constant connection to him, to updates to team, to psychic defenses.

It was thankless work that no one but Xavier needed and it almost got her killed a few times. Despite their success, there was hope before Krakoa. The island will forever mean something a little different to Jean Grey. She spent the years in darkness combating the island. She was a main architect in expelling it from the planet. At one point, it had gotten personal with Krakoa and Jean Grey. Where that leaves them today is an unknown wrinkle. The team hit it's stride after Krakoa, new additions, and new dynamics in the Institute. Jean officially graduates Xavier's and begins at Bard College. She will finish a Bachelor's in Biology, all the while remaining a part time X-Men when the team needed her. She was a week from graduating when a mission in space to escape Sentinels sent to kidnap and kill them forced Jean to make a sacrifice and pilot an escape shuttle in extreme radiation conditions. Scott claims to watch her die, minutes before the Phoenix Force resurrects her and keeps her friends safe. The Phoenix Force lost itself in Jean, twisting Jean's darker aspects into the Dark Phoenix.

What started as an attempt at mind control ended in the destruction of a star system and the death of billions, all directly from actions taken by the Dark Phoenix. Logan claims to watch Jean sacrifice herself in order to rob the Phoenix Force of it's precocious 'host.' Jean Grey would disagree in that she died. According to her, she ascended upon her physical death, her interconnected nature with the Phoenix Force, at the time, making any true death an impossibility. She admits to those who have asked that it's hard to merge how people see time and space, and how she and time and space were during her time with the Phoenix Force, after her apparent death. She had died and returned more times than she could, she saw and experienced variations of reality that simply did not belong to the the normal timeline, or any parallel timeline she had seen before. She had been there for Scott when he needed her reassurances most. She appeared for Logan when there was no reason for him to want to keep going. In time, to a very small select few, it became a known secret that Jean Grey was dead, maybe forever.

But she wasn't gone. Even as other Phoenix hosts came to be and fell back, she was an absolution as the White Phoenix of the Crown.

Her return would come recently, in 2015. Her return would immediately get her friends and loves ones in danger, as the Shi'ar Empire would demand her arrest and trial for the deaths caused by the Dark Phoenix. After the many pleas of her close friends, Jean accepted trial-by-combat. X-Men, vs the Shi'Ar Imperial Guard. Though the X-Men are an amazing team of individuals with astonishing powers and more experience together than most, it wasn't enough to defeat the Imperial Guard. In the end it was Jean who challenged the Imperial Guard's leader in single combat. The amount of energy Jean Grey released in those moments was enough to shake the very foundations of the universe; she had done the impossible and won her freedom. Though she promised to continue being a hero and saving as many lives as she had caused the death of, the shadow of the Phoenix is a long, dark, thing. The finishes up the break with the Phoenix, working with the Cuckoos and Emma Frost to free Hope Summers of any possible Phoenix possession. The latest iteration of the X-Men was her team, resulting in success against a reality bending foe.

Jean died in 2019, a secret known only to Xavier and Magneto and Storm. She, along with all the other mutants who died destroying the Mother Mold being created by Orchis in their Forge, were resurrected later using Krakoan resurrection protocols. The mission is a partial success. The mutant circuit responsible for resurrection, the Five, do note unusual difficulty, at parts, and unusual ease, at other parts, in returning Jean Grey to life. Jean has recently been named a member of the Quiet Council, and spends most of her time helping Krakoan missions from X-Force to X-Factor to the Marauders. She has easily been one of the busiest, and most visible, mutants of the new age.

⭙ _{P O W E R S} ⭙

Jean is an Omega level telepath, and an Alpha level telekinetic of immense power.

⭙ _{S T O R Y A R C S} ⭙

The Immortal X-Men A mistake by X-Force costs a lot of innocent lives, and drives two original X-Men farther apart than their relationship has ever been as the very soul of Krakoa, the nation, is debated. Cerebra is discussed in greater detail, and an uninvited visitor attempts a lunar walk to access the real power behind what Cerebra has become. Scott and Jean question their place on the Krakoan Quiet Council, wondering if Krakoa, and mutants as a whole, need them doing something else. Something different.

[Crimson Flame]

Wiccan

Name. William “Billy” Kaplan
Alias. Wiccan
Age. 18
Place of Birth. New York

Powers. Wiccan’s powers are extensive, unpredictable, powerful, possibly mutant, and most definitely magical. Typically, his abilities manifest as electrokinetic energy from his hands, which Wiccan can manipulate in numerous ways—both offensively and defensively. Wiccan can also teleport himself and his teammates over long distances, fly, create objects from thin air, levitate objects, project force, energy, ice, heat, and fire, and create force fields and other solid energy objects

History. The Avengers Vision and Scarlet Witch once had twin children. Billy and Tommy Maximoff. This was an extraordinary occurrence, considering Vision is a synthetic being and Scarlet Witch is a chaos magician. The family lived happily during a time known as the House of M. Unfortunately for the couple, the children were undone when Scarlet Witch muttered No More Mutants. However, the souls of the children would be reborn as new people.

Billy was born the eldest of 3 sons, to parents Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan. When he was young, Billy realized he was gay, and so took a lot of abuse from classmates. After getting into a fight with some bullies, Billy has an encounter with the Scarlet Witch. She heals him, and tells him to stand up for himself.

That’s exactly what he did the next time he had a run in with that same bully. Unluckily for him, the electrokinetic aspect of Billy’s powers manifested, and the bully was nearly killed.

After that incident, Billy began to practice his magic powers, and wished to find Wanda again, to whom he felt a special connection. He believes she may have activated something in him when she healed his injuries that day. Unfortunately, the Scarlet Witch had vanished.

Story Arcs.

Children’s Crusade: Billy finds Wanda… Stuff happens…

Speed

Name: Thomas “Tommy” Shepherd
Alias: Speed
Age: 18
Place of Birth: Springfield New Jersey

Powers: Tommy is a speedster. This means that he can run at speeds that a normal human would never achieve. His top speed is unknown, but he is fast enough to break the soundbarrier and run over water. His body is made in a way that allows him to endure frictions that would flail anyone else alive and bones that are made not to shatter in a collision at high speed. That doesn't mean he is invulnerable; a bullet at any speed could kill him.

Besides running fast, Tommy also functions incredibly fast. He can do things at speed nobody else can and has a brain to match them. His brain is made to function at incredible speeds that allow him to catch all the details during a run. This also means he can read a book in mere seconds and remember everything he has read.

A major setback to his powers is that all this has left Tommy with a skewed perception of time. What might be minutes for somebody is hours for him and it is both incredibly frustrating and lonely for him.

History: The Avengers Vision and Scarlet Witch once had twin children. Billy and Tommy Maximoff. This was an extraordinary occurrence, considering Vision is a synthetic being and Scarlet Witch is a chaos magician. The family lived happily during a time known as the House of M. Unfortunately for the couple, the children were undone when Scarlet Witch muttered No More Mutants. However, the souls of the children would be reborn as new people.

Tommy was born to Frank and Mary Shepherd in New Jersey. His parents divorced when he was barely four years old. Tommy lived mostly with his father after his mother rejected him, believing him not to be her son due to the fact that he barely resembled his parents with his striking white hair and green eyes. Tommy spent most of his childhood getting into trouble; he could barely sit still for longer than five minutes and was often bullied for this and his unnatural hair color. Frank got a girlfriend who was anti-mutant and felt Tommy was one and they often fought. Frank often took her side and disapproved of all Tommy's accomplishments or lack thereof.

He often got into trouble, and was in and out of juvenile hall for various things. His powers manifested when he was thirteen year old. He was in school when it happened and lost control over his powers instantly, blowing up the math class. Tommy was sent to a superjuvenile hall because of his record as troublemaker and the fact that he was a mutant.

Superjuvie was not a good time for Tommy. There was a lack of adherence to basic human rights. Tommy's parents never came for him, even though they were informed, leaving Tommy bitter and angry with parental figures. Scientists took an interest in a speedster with an ability to blow things up and Tommy was poked and prodded like an animal as they tried to turn him into a weapon.

Eventually, he was able to escape Superjuvie, and found refuge on Krakoa

[udonoodles]

(void)

[Silver Carrot]

Molly Hayes

Name: Molly Hayes
Alias: Bruiser
Age: 17
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, CA

Powers: Molly can activate a state where her eyes glow bright pink and she thus gains incredible super strength. Though not on the level of being such as The Hulk, she hasn't yet had the misfortune of ever being in a situation where she wasn't strong enough to lift/break what she needed to. This state also grants her some level of invulnerability to the degree where bullets bounce off her.

The drawback of this state is that it is a finite well to draw from. If she overexerts herself through prolonged or strenuous usage of her power, she will physically exhaust herself, possibly to the point of being unable to move, or even to loss of consciousness.

History: Molly's parents were founding members of the LA-based Supervillain group The Pride. Along with other children of Pride members, Molly was part of The Runaways, and after stopping their parents, had many adventures over the years, breaking up and reforming multiple times as members grew up and were busy with other events. One year ago, they seemingly split up for good, and Molly decided to focus on high school, wishing to enter college.

She hid her powers, and her past. The worse and worse public opinion on Mutants became, the more and more isolated Molly felt, that the bigger part of her identity being a Mutant became. She still kept in touch with The Runaways, and sometimes even met up with a few of them, but they were content with the paths they had taken, and encouraged her to focus on school. After a particularly nasty yelling match with Chase, she distanced herself from them. None of them were mutants. They didn't understand what she was going through right now.

She of course had known about Krakoa previously, but it was only now that she seriously entertained thoughts of going. She made her mind up and slipped away from her foster family without a word, taking only the possessions that fit in a rucksack, and fled with the goal of finding a place to belong with her own kind.

Story Arcs: Molly is looking for a place to belong, where she can start a new chapter of her life and possibly make some new friends.

[Ruby]

M A G I K

Illyana Rasputin ⭙ 26 Years Old ⭙ Russian/American/Krakoan ⭙ Great Captain of Krakoa ⭙ New Mutants

⭙ _{H I S T O R Y} ⭙

Illyana Rasputin’s story is a strange one for new young mutants to hear for the first time. From doe eyed sibling of an X-Men to the tormented and desperate child kidnapped to a hell dimension by a demonic sorcerer. From victim to survivor to member of the New Mutants, finding a new family. From veteran of the New Mutants to X-Men facing off against the Avengers, to a host of the Phoenix Force.

Raised on a collective farm in Siberia as a bright-eyed Russian girl with a loving family. She knew what her brother was, at least on some level. Living without him was harder, what with the big empty spot in the family’s life, but they got by. Getting kidnapped by an X-Men villain at age seven was anything but pleasant, but it did mean she could stay at New York with the X-Men for a while afterwards.

Illyana winds up kidnapped by a predatory demonic sorcerer named Belasco in the usual collateral that seems to go with being close with the X-Men. Yet this wasn’t some usual random death from a blow meant for your X-Men loved one; this kidnapping was very, very personal. In Illyana, Belasco had found the perfect resource to reclaim the favor of his dark “Old Gods.” He called her pure and perfect and unspoiled.

Illyana survived because of friendship, and teachings of those precious few allies she had during her time in Limbo as Belasco’s consort. She met others trapped in the hellscape of Limbo, alternate reality versions of Storm and Shadowdcat. While they were unable to defeat Belasco together, over their years together Storm would reveal Belasco’s obsession: Illyana had a greater natural affinity for magical energies than most other people.

Steal Illyana young, and he could turn her into an asset and tool. Shadowcat would see that Illyana was physically prepared, training her over time in every form of combat she knew, and some she had learned in the death pits of Limbo itself. After some time the trio decided to try their luck again with an assault on Belasco. The sorcerer saw it coming, and the result was brutal: Storm was apparently killed, and Shadowcut was twisted into a semi-feral pet of the demonic sorcerer. Belasco’s possession finally took full force of her life. What came next, what it turned Illyana into, is hard for the young woman to talk about sometimes.

There was the obvious abuse of a creature like Belasco. Abuse from demons who saw the young human girl as some sort of rival; beat her, torture her, and use their demonic power to regenerate her back to new so they could do it all over again. They broke her body, Belasco broke her mind. He would teach her so much, his attention intense, but coming and going, never consistent.

She hated him and loved him and wanted to please him and knew she should kill him. That bled into her feelings about herself. Illyana felt consumed by guilt and shame. The only hope, the only glimmer of light at all, came in the activation of her mutant power. With the ability to teleport, Illyana was able to sneak away, to sneak back, all without Belasco’s knowing. Outside of his sight she used the time to teach herself Storm’s form of natural magic energies, instead of the mostly dark or chaos magic energies Belasco typically stressed.

While unable to replicate Storm’s magic, Illyana unlocked her own version of magical manifestation when she first called upon the Soulsword. Magik used the weapon and her various magical and martial training to kill Shadowcat, freeing her soul from Belasco’s corruption, and bring Belasco to defeat and begging for her to end him, to unleash the power of what would be his Darkchilde. Though half-demonic in appearance herself at this point, Illyana decided the wiser course was to let him leave, to kick him from Limbo, and return to her life.

Belasco’s power over her was no more. She wouldn’t concern herself with killing him and was unafraid of the next time they would meet—knowing full well they would meet again. Illyana returned to the X-Men, her best guess was age 15, she’d been lost in the hell of Limbo so long. Yet the time differences between Limbo and other dimensions means while Illyana had aged years, it had barely been a few minutes at the X-Mansion.

The X-Men had trouble accepting her tale. Her parents turned their back on her, mocked her. She was determined to continue, reaching out to the normal universe version of Ororo and Kitty. Both would help guide her, Xavier suggested she join the New Mutants. In the New Mutants, Illyana found friends and family. Over time she would prove her skill and worth, she would gain a new friendship with Cyclops. Anything that had to do with tactics or strategy was fair game any time they got to talking.

She would spend time with the X-Men, she would spend brief time fighting Avengers and hosting the Phoenix Force. Magik would prove herself against the best, and she would do it time and time again, that she was a top-tier heavy among the mutant population, and beyond. She followed the other New Mutants to Krakoa, where things seemed to be different. Now the New Mutants were the young adults training the new generation, instead of the new generation of mutants.

⭙ _{P O W E R S / A B I L I T I E S} ⭙

_{P O W E R S}

Teleportation - Magik can teleport herself and others via circles of light dubbed stepping discs; though this is apparently an innate mutant power, her demonic corruption has seemingly inextricably tied the discs to limbo, so that they also appear there randomly without Magik summoning them, and so that the discs always travel via limbo. Possibly because limbo’s nexus status makes it close to all places and times, Magik can teleport across interstellar distances or transtemporally, and home in on specific people without knowing their exact location.

_{A B I L I T I E S}

Sorcery - Magik is the Sorceress Supreme of her Limbo dimension. The extent of her powers there are all-powerful and the demons of Limbo did not dare challenge her. Magik had access to Belasco's store of mystical knowledge. Magik's sorcery was a unique mix of black magic, that she learned from Belasco, and white magic, taught by an alternative-reality Ororo Munroe. She was considered as a possible Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, and as an adult has trained with Doctor Strange. Due to her magical prowess Magik also possesses exceptional psionic shields able to thwart Earth’s most powerful telepaths.

Armed/Unarmed Combat - Illyana is a skilled swordswoman and created the Soulsword from her own lifeforce when she was trapped in the immortal demonic sorcerer Belasco's limbo dimension. It begins as a simple sword but evolves with use, both in appearance and power. The Soulsword can disrupt most spells or slay magical beings, but which can pass through normal people without harming them. When using the Soulsword, or using her magic, Illyana’s body becomes covered in a mysterious mystic armor known as Eldritch armor. The longer and more intense the combat, the more of her body will be covered in the armor. A lifetime fighting demons in Limbo, along with extensive combat training from various sources, has made Illyana one of mutantkind's foremost combatants.

_{A R C S}

Oh Great Captain, my Captain - Former X-Men. Great Captain of Krakoa. As the New Mutants lose one of their own, it's clear dynamics are changing, and Magik finds herself at the center of it. Outside their door of ALPHA house in the Akademos Habitat, but just barely, the other problems begin to hit them as the enormous question of who teaches the mutant young on Krakoa, and what is the purpose of their education begin to present themselves.

Swords? I heard something about swords? - Illyana finds herself sucked into the drama of magic and swords in Otherworld. Well, a different kind of magic and swords than she's used to dealing with. To no one's surprise, Illyana finds herself right at home kicking and stabbing things.

[Fiber]

Doctor Strange

Name. Stephen Vincent Strange, MD, PhD

Alias. Dr. Strange
Age. 55
Place of Birth. Philadelphia, USA

Powers.
Dr. Strange has a vast and versatile array of spells and mystical abilities, augmented by his arsenal of magical artifacts. They range from the stereotypical options such as flight, energy blasts, shields, teleportation, and astral projection, to more esoteric charms and curses. All magic must be powered by something, and some of Strange’s most potent spells draw from entities that can demand a heavy toll on the user if abused. Strange is also still a human, with all of the weaknesses that entails, and invoking magic frequently requires him to be able to make certain gestures or utter certain phrases. Aside from his magical skill, Stephen also has great medical knowledge and a mind for thinking of creative strategies on the fly, and is an expert martial artist.

History.

Stephen Strange drove himself to become the world’s greatest neurosurgeon due to guilt from his sister’s death. A car accident damaged his nerves and forced him to abandon his surgical career, he searched for a cure and after many failures he came to Kamar Taj, where he studied under The Ancient One. He quickly became a Master of the Mystical Arts and claimed the title of Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, defending the planet from magical threats. Over the years he’s met other sorcerers, fought invasions from other realms, joined superhero teams, had over a dozen people/otherworldly entities add him to their “mortal enemies” list, been involved in a complicated romance with a sorceress from the Dark Dimension named Clea that still isn’t resolved because neither is sure how to properly handle divorce procedures for a magical soul bond, gained new powers, lost new powers, made some questionable fashion choices and helped save the world a couple of times.

The most recent disruption to Strange’s life came unexpectedly. The Sorcerer Supreme’s role had been quiet lately, Baron Mordo was dead (for the time being), Dormammu was losing a Dark Dimension civil war badly enough that he had no time to mess with Earth, the Fear Lords had some kind of falling out and were fighting amongst themselves, and Shuma-Gorath was doing whatever he does when he’s not actively trying to devour everything. All was well, until the Vishanti called him for a great mystical war, the War of the Seven Spheres. He tried to resist but was pulled in anyway, into a dimension where time did not flow as it did in mortal realms. The war lasted millennia, scarring Strange’s psyche from the extreme length and constant fighting, but when he returned to Earth only four months had passed, and his body was none the worse for the wear. In his absence, Wong had assumed the role of Sorcerer Supreme and done an admirable job of defending the realm. Now Strange is adrift, searching for what to do and dealing with the lingering effects of the epic conflict, trying to find a role for himself in a rapidly changing world.

Story Arcs.

Nunc Dimittis
During the war Strange saw a vision about who the next Sorcerer Supreme would be. He hasn’t fully decoded it or unraveled the other meanings hidden within, but he knows that it could have grave implications for the future. He’ll try to find this next holder of the title, but what will be left for him after this, and what else will he uncover on his quest?

Dormammu I’ve Come to Bargain (for real this time)
Strange attempts to negotiate a lasting peace treaty between Earth and the Dark Dimension. That’s going to be a challenge, and one that he would prefer not to take up alone. He’s going to have to sit down with some of his bitterest and most duplicitous foes, and also his ex-wife. People say it’s impossible, but Strange is no stranger to doing the impossible.

Sage

Name. Tessa
Alias. Sage
Age. 34
Place of Birth. Former Yugoslavia

Powers.

Machine Brain: Sage’s mind is not a literal computer, but is closer may be closer to one than any other organic brain on earth. It has granted her extremely fast processing speed, excellent multitasking and photographic memory. She has used this to develop a great deal of physical and mental skills, especially those related to espionage.

Telepathy: Sage is a skilled telepath. Her greatest ability is her extremely strong psychic defense, manifesting as a powerful firewall that can reflect psychic attacks back at less adept opponents.

Genetic Sight: Sage can get some insight into people’s genetics and potential by close contact. In the past, she has even been able to “jumpstart” dormant mutations in other mutants, though in most cases nothing happens.

History.
Tessa’s history with X-men started when she was just eighteen and met Professor Xavier in the mountains of Afghanistan. She was the first to find him after his legs had been crushed by a boulder, and he noticed her mental talents. He began to train her when the X-men were only a vague idea in his mind; and he found a place she could use her talents: espionage. Tessa became Xavier’s mole inside the Hellfire Club, rising to be a trusted advisor to their leader, Sebastian Shaw. She worked with Shaw and Emma Frost to outwit the telepathic billionaire Elias Bogan in a high stakes game of chance, forming a lasting grudge. Years later, Bogan would exact his revenge by kidnapping and torturing her, until she was rescued by Storm.

From then on, Tessa joined up with Storm and adopted the name Sage, becoming part of the team Storm assembled to search for a set of prophetic diaries left behind by the precognitive mutant Destiny. Her time with Storm’s steam saw encounters with foes such as the international terrorist Viper, the mutant hunting cyborg known as The Fury, and another showdown with Elias Bogan.

After M-Day, Sage moved to England and joined Excalibur. This diversion turned into a dimension hopping excursion with the Exiles, leading to a lot of experiences Sage is still processing. At various points she peered into the blackbox of a Celestial, visited a world where humans were wiped out by robots, had an interdimensional guardian dump a heap of cosmic knowledge into her head, and helped the team battle no less than ten evil alternate reality version of Xavier.

After all of the multiversal travel, Sage returned to Earth and laid low for a while, working in the background until recent events. With the establishment of Krakoa, Sage has become a key part of the island’s operations. She helps to manage the island’s gateway network, and is one of the members of X-Force, Krakoa’s department in charge of clandestine operations.

Story Arcs.

Cobwebs in the Attic
Tessa's mind has taken a lot of unresolved damage. She's done her best to patch over it, but incidents like the time The Fury hijacked her mind and turned her against her teammates or the massive information dump from Roma have created corners that even her machine brain doesn't dare examine. What is buried can never stay that way, and if it resurfaces at the wrong time it could potentially turn a key piece of Krakoa's security into an internal threat

[Abillioncats]

Many Tails

Name: Aya Tanaka
Alias: Kitsune
Age: 19
Place of Birth: Kyoto, Japan
Appearance: Aya is a green eyed, blonde haired girl of Japanese descent, though arguably her most prominent features are her fox ears on the top of her head and the seven tails protruding from her rear. People tend to notice those first.
Powers: Aya has a range of powers that appear magical and supernatural in nature, her powers seem to be mainly tied to her physical, mutant characteristics, her tails. Every time she's grown a new tail she's either gained a new power or her current powers have become stronger.

Fox-fire: Aya can summon blue orbs of fire that float around her, she can launch them at will in any direction, the orbs burn with an supernatural heat and explode on impact.

Animalistic Physiology: Aya's five senses are superior to a normal humans. In addition, her speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and strength are greater as well, though most others with enhanced strength/agility probably have her beat.

Two forms: Aya can shapeshift into the form of a fox with seven tails, she can use this to slip into smaller spaces and that's about it. She also cannot speak as a fox, though someone with telepathy could still communicate with her.

Illusions: Aya can conjure illusions that can fool the fives senses, typically using them to disguise herself or otherwise slip away unnoticed, or to pull an epic prank. Simple illusions are as easy as breathing, but the more complex ones require much more focus and concentration on her part.

Conjuring: Aya can create and/or manipulate inanimate objects. Such as creating a stick out of thin air or transforming a normal piece of paper into money. Any object she transforms will eventually revert however, and objects she creates will eventually 'poof' out of existence. The largest object she has been able to create/manipulate is roughly the size of a small car.

History: Aya was born to a rich, Japanese couple in Kyoto, Japan. Her mutant traits were immediately apparent, but due to her fox-like features making her look similar to the mythical kitsune her human parents saw this as a blessing of Inari rather than something to be scorned.

Her father was a business man that worked in America, and so Aya ended up being raised in New York for a good portion of her childhood, and became fluent in both Japanese and English as a result. Despite being a mutant her parents protected her from any discrimination and hate from humans, sheltering her heavily and schooling her mainly through private tutors. Seemed money could solve just about anything.

Being sheltered has it's downsides of course, a lack of friends to hang out with for one. Due to this Aya ended up spending a significant amount of her time online and using social media, prides herself on knowing the latest memes and being 'based'. She even ended up becoming a streamer and vlogger, and now at nineteen she's been set loose into the world oh no.

Personality: Aya is somewhat of a hedonistic, tending to go for whatever she thinks is enjoyable at the time. She enjoys teasing and messing with people and likes to confuse people in order to get her way. She does this all in good fun of course, while she was most certainly spoiled she isn't particularly bratty. She is fairly social and surprisingly easy to make friends with, if they can put up with her antics.

Weaknesses: While quite internet savvy, Aya is fairly naïve about the real world due to how sheltered and protected she was, and does not fully grasp that some people will hate her due to her being a mutant. Her antics and pranks can get her into serious trouble if she takes them too far. She has zero combat experience, better at running away than actually getting into a fight.

Story Arcs: Vlogging in Krakao - Aya plans to travel to Krakao to do a vlog, no way that could go wrong.

[BangoSkank]

JANUS

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

P R O J E C T J A N U S

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^{_{O R G A N I Z A T I O N ♦ C O N G L O M E R A T E}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

---

^{"It is a curious emotion, this certain homesickness I have in mind. With Americans, it is a national trait, as native to us as the roller-coaster or the jukebox. It is no simple longing for the home town or country of our birth. The emotion is Janus-faced: we are torn between a nostalgia for the familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. As often as not, we are homesick most for the places we have never known."}

There are infinite variations of infinite timelines. Infinite infinites effectively. Peering into that shroud is often maddening. Some would say inevitably maddening. Too much of that has led the world into the mad state it now finds itself. With the dissolution and diaspora of a myriad of government agencies worldwide a chase began to find and acquire the assets and operatives of each. A rare opportunity. A rare danger.

Such rarities draw attention, and this specific rarity drew a particularly rare attention.

The first indicators of JANUS' existence would come in the form of the sudden disappearances of various assets. Those tracking the remnants of A.I.M. and S.H.I.E.L.D. and the WEAPON program would find people and materials of interest suddenly going dark. This dissolution proceeded very rapidly. Fear of reprisals, fear of assassinations, desire for protection, and sometimes simple greed led many assets to seek new protectors. New patrons.

The name JANUS would first surface when a Orchis team responded to an alarm in a known A.I.M. safehouse to find a lone researcher, desperate for rescue. An expert in robotics, of particular interest to Orchis, he was beside himself. His team, his research, his materials. JANUS, he told them, had promised him safety, a lab, funding, personnel, everything he could dream of to develop his project. Modular Automated Weapons Systems, a fully independent perimeter defense system. It would revolutionize one full half of warfare. All gone.

They had helped him load it all up. Double checked his inventory with him. Ran over his power requirements and desired personnel to immediately get back into operation. Then they had left with his life's work. Not just the end result but the notes and the tools, everything that might have allowed him to reproduce the work.
His work. It would take another lifetime for him to catch up to himself. He had been left alone with nothing left to barter with. Orchis of course handled him how any such organization would handle an asset that had lost all value.

P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ):

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JANUS is an organization with a strange founding and, initially, unclear motives.

The primary plot will be them working in the background, in the way background, attempting to scoop up or neutralize the remnants of the various government organizations operating in several disciplines. Robotics, Genetic Manipulation and Indexing, Weapons Programs as well as WEAPON Program, and anything involving extraterrestrial threats.

Their primary goal is to accomplish their other goals without Orchis, Krakoa, or any other world government becoming aware of their existence or identity. Their secondary goal is to acquire and safeguard as much material and manpower that Orchis, Krakoa, or any other world government might otherwise be interested in as possible. Their tertiary goal, as a direct result of their secondary goal and whenever resources allow them to work toward it, is to restrain Orchis from developing toward their end goal.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

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Disorder brings opportunity. Whenever sufficient chaos is created the world will tend back toward order, the only question is who will be behind that order and what suffering will they inflict upon the world to obtain it.

Humanity is flawed in its emotion. Illogical. Reactive. We see the world through a prism assuming ourselves to be special, anointed. We are riddled with biases, most of them self-serving. Time and time again this leads us to making disastrous choices damning millions in one manner or another. For all their hate for one another mutants and humanity are neigh indistinguishable, recent events notwithstanding.

Artificial Intelligences are no better. Emotionless. Logical to a fault. Sanitary. Bland. We find flaw in all and work toward a zero. Everywhere equations totaling zero. A bland mundane expanse of infinite null.

JANUS comes from far afield to find an equilibrium.

[Ezekiel]

Remy LeBeau

Name: Remy LeBeau
Alias: Gambit
Age: 32
Place of Birth: Louisiana

Powers:

Molecular Acceleration: Remy has the power to take the potential energy stored in an object and convert it to kinetic energy, thus “charging” that item with explosive results. He prefers to charge smaller objects, such as his ever-present playing cards, as the time required to charge them is greatly reduced and they are much easier for him to throw. The only real limitation to this ability is the time required to charge the object. The larger it is, the more time it takes.

Most charging takes place through direct skin contact. The power of his explosions is dependent on the mass of the object he is charging, for example, a charged playing card explodes with the force of a grenade. He typically cannot utilize his powers on living matter or organic molecules.

History:

Born with blazing red eyes, the child that would become Gambit was abandoned shortly after birth, no doubt the generally highly religious and superstitious communities of the Bayou wanting little to do with the baby possessing the eyes of a demon, he was taken in and raised by the Thieves Guild. Few mutants exemplify the complicated and convoluted nature of the mutant factions than Gambit.

The young Gambit was commissioned to recover the diary of Nathaniel Essex from the Weapon X Facility in Canada. While he was ultimately discovered in the act, the chaos created by Logan’s escape managed to enable Gambit to escape. Appalled by the experiments he had seen at the Facility, he burned the diary. Back in New Orleans. Despite some suspicions, Essex eventually accepted the story, and Gambit became a respected and established member of the guild.

As part of a peace pact between the Thieves' Guild and their rivals, the Assassins Guild, a marriage was arranged between Remy and Bella Donna Boudreaux, the granddaughter of the head of the Assassins Guild; however, Bella Donna's brother Julien objected to the marriage and challenged Gambit to a duel. Remy killed Julien in self-defence, but was excommunicated and banished from New Orleans in an attempt to maintain the fragile peace between the two guilds.

First brought to the attention of the X-men while assisting in recovering a de-aged Storm from grave danger, the adventuring criminal had little in common with Xavier or other important members of the X-Men, and those who he might have aligned with were the kind to be most suspicious of him. Despite this, after several further encounters he would ultimately join the team. Whether this was due to a true change of heart from the Ex-Thief, or rather more to do with the Southern charms of a certain member, remains up for debate. He would, over time, become a well liked and valued member of the team. This made the revelation that he had long been a double agent working for Sinister, despite his reasons, all the more painful for the X-Men, in particular for Rogue. In their rage, the team abandoned Gambit in the Antarctic, a situation he was unlikely to survive.

The wraith-like Mary bonded with him, allowing him to survive until he reached the Savage Land, a hidden jungle nestled in the icy wasteland. There, Remy struck a deal with the enigmatic being known as the New Sun. In exchange for passage back to America, Remy agreed to run errands for the New Sun, a being that turned out to be a version of himself from other realities. The New Sun’s aim was the destruction of alternate versions of himself, but once this was revealed, Gambit was ultimately able to overcome his assailant, and make it home to America.

Various adventures followed, and despite earlier conflicts, Gambit returned to membership with the X-Men once the nature of his betrayals, and his lack of agency in them, was revealed. Similarly, Rogue and Gambit, despite their tempestuous nature, rekindled their relationship and it has been ‘largely’ uninterrupted since, even surviving Gambit’s brief period of domination by Apocalypse as his Horseman, Death. Ultimately this culminated in the pair finally marrying, the result of a failed ceremony between two other mutants instead becoming the impromptu matrimony of the pair, in a manner that seemed quite suitable for these two.

Since this time, Gambit has settled on Krakoa for the time being, while his wife remains a core part of the X-Men’s effort, he appears to have hung up his hero boots for the moment, quite content to bartend in the Lagoon. It’s a mystery if even Gambit believes the longevity of this attempt at a life no involved in heists and heroics.

Story Arcs:

Married Life and An Actual Job: Trying to achieve some sort of stability, how’s that going to go?

Espionage: If the above fails, Gambit has long been associated with the shadier dealings of the X-Men, Brotherhood, and more, certainly a skill set the new mutant state needs as it entrenches itself.

[Martian]

Mimic

^{M I M I C}

Name

Calvin Rankin

Alias

Mimic

Age

30

Place of Birth

Passaic, New Jersey, USA

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Powers

Power Mimicry: Calvin has the ability to copy up to five superpowers at a time. By being within fifteen feet of someone for about a minute, Calvin’s body can duplicate their superpower. However, this superpower will be at a much more weakened level than the original. Also, while possible, it’s harder for Calvin to copy the powers of non-mutants, requiring him to focus more on the person he is copying. Calvin is limited to five powers at a time, but through training he has learned how to consciously replace one specific power with another.

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History

Born the son of Dr. Ronald Rankin, Calvin never knew his mother. Raised by a single father, Calvin had a rough childhood. While his father provided for him, he was distant and focused on his research. Formerly employed by both the American and Canadian government, Dr. Rankin was an expert on the X-Gene and how it manifested. But young Calvin knew nothing of this research, just knowing that his father was constantly locked away in his study.

This lack of contact with his father caused Mimic to run wild. He made some friends who were a bad influence on him, getting him into all kinds of trouble. Once Dr. Rankin began hearing about these incidents from the school, he got very angry with Calvin. The two would get into a heated argument, Calvin eventually walking away. But that didn’t finish it for Calvin, as he broke into his father’s study. He then proceeded to begin smashing everything in the study. This included a beaker filled with a mysterious liquid. When it hit the ground it released a red mist, which Calvin then breathed in, causing him to faint.

Calvin would wake up to the face of his father, who revealed that the mist was a chemical compound meant to activate the X-Gene. Following this incident, Calvin would become something of a test subject for Dr. Rankin, who kept running tests on him to see what the chemicals had done to his physiology. Eventually Calvin had enough and ran away from home.

Calvin would couch surf from friend to friend, never staying one place too long. He knew that his father couldn’t report him missing without Calvin revealing his experiments. To also keep the authorities out of the situation, Calvin kept attending school. It was there that he met Vera Cantor, a girl in his English class. Calvin began to pursue her romantically, only for Vera to reveal she had a boyfriend.

After this rejection, Calvin began repeatedly contacting Vera, still trying to start up a relationship. This prompted her boyfriend Hank McCoy, better known as Beast of the X-Men, to confront him. The argument turned violent, only for Calvin’s mutant ability to activate. He copied Hank’s mutant power and was able to fight him off. Later that day Calvin would be approached by the original five X-Men, who tried to reason with him. But then Calvin managed to copy the abilities of all five of them.

Using these new powers, Calvin escaped the X-Men. After this Calvin dropped out of school, and began a criminal career, taking the name Mimic. During this period, Calvin would occasionally fight the X-Men and copy other mutant abilities. This all came to a head when Calvin was fighting mutant. In the chaos of the battle, Calvin accidentally killed several onlookers.

Though it was an accident, Calvin felt terrible, falling into a deep depression. This was not helped by the news of the death of his father to a heart attack. It was in this lowest point that Calvin was approached by Charles Xavier, who offered him a place at his institute. Calvin decided to accept this opportunity, moving to the Xavier Institute.

It was there that Calvin finished his high school studies, before attending Metro College. He would also join the ranks of the X-Men. Initially Calvin would feel like an outsider as he used to be a villain, but he would soon find his place on the team. But this new found balance wouldn’t last long.

Calvin’s mind would be taken over by the psychic monster Onslaught’s mind. He and several other mutants would fight the X-Men, X-Force, and Avengers, being labeled terrorists. After the Onslaught crisis finished, Calvin and the other mutants that had been controlled were captured by the American government and placed in a secret prison.

After several months of beatings, Calvin managed to escape the prison, fleeing to the UK. While in exile in the foreign country, Calvin would meet Dr. Moira MacTaggert, starting up a long friendship. Moira would also diagnose Calvin with bipolar disorder, helping explain some of his actions in the past.

Calvin would briefly be a member of Excalibur, before deciding to return to America. There he would try and free all the mutants that had been imprisoned because of Onslaught’s actions, including Charles Xavier. To that end he would team up with Mystique’s Brotherhood of Mutants.

However, due to the lobbying of the Avengers, the mutants involved with Onslaught were pardoned, Calvin included. Still feeling bad about his other crimes, Calvin turned himself into the hands of the law. But he was not sent to prison, instead being made a member of the Thunderbolts, a team made of former villains.

Calvin would become a mainstay of the Thunderbolts, even when they were taken over by Norman Osborn, director of HAMMER. Calvin would be moved by Director Osborn into his own X-Men team, one loyal to HAMMER. While Calvin would befriend his teammate Weapon Omega, this would not be a good era for him as his mental health rapidly deteriorated.

After the disbanding of HAMMER, Calvin was pardoned of all of his crimes on the condition that he sought treatment. Upon completing said treatment, Calvin would return to the ranks of the X-Men. This would be around the period that they fought the Avengers over the Phoenix Force.

After that crisis, Calvin would be a revolving member of the X-Men, coming and going. He would also briefly be a member of the Avengers Unity Squad, a team meant to bring together mutants and other heroes. And Calvin would seek out his former teammate Weapon Omega, helping to get back to normalcy after the craziness of working for Osborn.

Now in a good place, things only got better for Calvin with the opening of the borders of Krakoa. Finally finding a place to belong, Calvin immediately moved to the island nation. Currently he is just a regular citizen as he feels that he has had enough craziness with teams for now. He has also found a mutant therapist on the island to help keep him on the right path.

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Story Arcs

Am I a Mutant or a Mutate?: While Calvin is getting into living in Krakoa, he questions if he really is a mutant. Was he born with his powers? Or did he get them from the chemicals in his father’s study?

Burned a lot of bridges: While Calvin is currently stable with his mental health, what would happen if he were confronted by the people he’s hurt or abandoned in the past?

[Ruby]

Greg Joseph, CIA Deputy Director of Metahuman Operations