Xi'an (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} karmalized) wrote,@ 2008-05-20 18:35:00 |
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[OOC INFORMATION:] Name/Handle: Rae. Age: 20. AIM/AOL SN: kookabura laugh. E-Mail Address: kookaburalaugh@aol.com Experience: this_and_that.Time Zone: Central. PB: Otsuka Ai. [CHARACTER BASICS:] Name: Xi'an Coy Manh. Nickname(s): Shan. Codename(s): Karma. Age: 24. Gender: Female. Race / Nationality: Vietnamese. Homo Sapien / Homo Superior?: Superior. [CHARACTER APPEARANCE:] Height: 5'5" Weight: 115 lbs. Eye Color: Brown. Hair Color: Brown, worn long and shaggy. The shade changes almost monthly. Attire: Normally, Shan sticks to a sort of street grunge, casual look. Her jeans are almost always frayed, and she likes to layer her shirts. The color of her wardrobe remains pretty dark and dull, with a few splashes of color thrown in to confuse people. While not as openly gay as some, she doesn't mind showing a little bit of pride. [CHARACTER DETAILS:] Affiliation: Brotherhood. Occupation: Terrorist. Education: No formal education. Mutant Abilities: Karma is a mutant with the ability to take possession of the minds of other people or animals. She projects a psionic energy surge that overwhelms the consciousness of another; this renders the victim unconscious, while placing her own mind in command. It allows her to alter the victim's perceptions and memories, command entranced opponents to divulge information, and/or operate their bodies as if they were an extension of her own. When Karma first takes possession of someone, she can only move her subject's body awkwardly until she acclimates herself to her new host. If she remains in possession of a host for too long she will begin to think and act as her host would, and eventually her own personality would become subordinate to one identical to the host's. Although Karma can possess multiple subjects simultaneously, her control over her subjects is fragmented as she shifts her attention from one to another. Power Level: Alpha. Astrological Sign: Aquarius. General Personality: Shan's hard life hasn't taken as hard a toll on the way she acts as it might have. Sure, she's slightly bitter, and looks down on most of the people that she comes in contact with, but at first glance it's hard to tell. While she's not exactly friendly, she's nice enough, and will always talk back if you talk to her first. While she's not open about her own life, she listens well enough, and knows when to keep her mouth shut. Shan is the perfect person to go to if you just want to unload, and don't really want anyone else to hear about it. People sometimes assume that she doesn't talk much because her English isn't so good. That's not the case. After a few years of study, she's picked up on the language very well. Despite everything, Shan has a very strict code of personal honor. If someone asks her to do something, and she says yes, chances are she'll do it. Xi'an will use her powers in violence ONLY if she believes that what she's doing is right. That's not to say she won't lead someone back to other waiting Brotherhood members, but she herself will have no hand in the actual maiming. Unless, of course, the person that's on the losing end has harmed her, her family, or someone else she likes. Shan doesn't like to lie, and avoids it whenever possible. Normally, she gets caught when she tries. Even when she doesn't talk, it's easy to see what she's thinking. She's terrible at hiding anything. It's hard to get her to laugh, or even smile, but not impossible. All it takes is a little hard work. Xi'an doesn't take well to flirting from males. Mostly it flusters her, but sometimes she gets really angry. Keep in mind that it's hard for her to tell the difference between flirting and teasing. In the day to day scheme of things, Shan is quiet, and fairly well-mannered. Just because she's not open and friendly doesn't mean she's rude. She's not really looking for deep, meaningful friendships. Working around people who can tolerate her is good enough. Relatives/Family: Leong Coy Manh (brother), Nga Coy Manh (sister), Tran Coy Manh (brother, deceased), General Nguyen Ngoc Coy (uncle, deceased). History: Xi'an was born in the highlands of Vietnam, the youngest of a set of twins. From their first breath, the twins were inseparable. Their childhood was often interrupted when their father, a colonel in the South Vietnamese army, was forced to take his wife and children along on his missions. They were often placed directly in the path of danger, with no one but other women and children around to defend them. As a result, Xi'an grew up much faster than she should have. When her mother conceived two more children, she took a huge part in helping to raise them. Bearing children in a hostile environment had taken it's toll on her mother's heath. It was all she could do every day to simply work up the strength to see her children fed. Tran had no interest in looking out for anyone other than himself, and possibly his twin. Thus, it fell on Xi'an's shoulders to see that everyone was well looked after. Not even a teenager, she assumed a motherly role. Life was hard on everyone. Eventually, their small camp was found by Viet Cong soldiers. While ushering the younger children to relative safety, Xi'an saw her brother being threatened by an enemy soldier. Reacting out of instinct, she lashed out with her mind, possessing the older man and keeping him from delivering the killing stroke. At first, what she had done didn't register. To her, at least. Tran, however, soon exhibited the same gift. He relished in using it cruelly, forcing the enemy soldier who had once threatened him to kill himself. Xi'an was appalled by his violence, but there was no reasoning with him. They were the greater race, the strongest of the strong. Who could tell them what to do with their power? Eventually, the twins crime lord uncle, General Nguyen Ngoc Coy, heard rumors of his nephew's gifts. He quickly lifted Tran out of his life of flight, bringing him under his wing. It came at a cost, however. Tran was persuaded to use his mutation to help the General. It didn't take much to sway him to the cause. Meanwhile, Xi'an, and the rest of her family, escaped as well. Along with so many other survivors, they crowded themselves onto boats and set sail for anywhere that may have been safter. Along the way, however, they were forced to halt by Thai pirates. They killed all of the men, including Xi'an's father, outright. The women weren't as lucky. Xi'an, who was hardly seventeen, was unable to escape their wicked notice. After they'd had their fill, they left them all to die. Several of the women, including her mother, whose health had never really returned, didn't make it. Xi'an, young as she was, recovered from the abuse, and gathered together what was left of the refugees to make their escape. Those that had perished were buried at sea. That violation haunted her for the rest of her life. To this day, the thought of intimacy with a man makes her shiver. Xi'an and her two younger siblings made their way to New York City, with the help of a program designed to aid Vietnamese immigrants. One of the men helped her find an apartment, and enroll Leong and Nga in school. Xi'an found a job, and set about learning English. It wasn't easy, though she knew that it would be necessary if she meant to stay. Tran found her there, in a tiny apartment in the city. He told her that, if she went to their uncle for help he would gladly give it. Xi'an knew what that would mean. She too would be forced to use her powers to aid her uncle's nefarious business dealings. However, things became too tight around their small home for her to refuse. Despite her pride, she went to the General and offered him her services. He gladly accepted, and she was put to work helping Tran in those jobs that he was given. At first, it was terrible. There were times when they had to control people, and make them do terrible things. She knew that if she backed out now, her uncle might hurt not only her, but her younger siblings as well. So, she swallowed back her horror, and did what she had to do. It was on one such job that Xi'an finally snapped. Tran had been cruel ever since he'd discovered his mutation, but time had only made it worse. They had been sent out with an order to terminate a man who had double crossed their uncle. The instructions given included no witnesses, which Xi'an figured meant that she would use her power to force anyone who could be watching away. Tran had other ideas. The only other people around were the man's wife and son. Tran took control of the man's mind, and directed him to kill his family. He started with the child. Unable to bear any more of it, Xi'an lashed out with her own power, somehow managing to absorb her brother completely. With that, her powers doubled, making her strong enough to escape her uncle's hold. She left her brother and sister to the care of one of her more trustworthy neighbors, and did her best to disappear. In order to keep from starving or freezing, she would sometimes posses people in order to get food or money. It wasn't so hard anymore. Most of the qualms she'd had against using her powers had disappeared with Tran's death. At the time, it was hard to escape the hostility directed at mutants. Somewhere in between all that had happened to her, Xi'an started to blame herself. She should have been strong enough to protect those she loved. If she hadn't been so weak, then maybe her family would still be whole. Trying to ease some of the guilt that pressed on her mind, she sought out her uncle. He'd been looking for her as well, of course, and demanded an explanation as to why his nephew was gone. Enraged by how this man had twisted her brother, she used her powers, and forced him to leap from his office balcony. With her uncle's death came the realization that, even if she had been weak, she was no more. She had power, the power to make people do whatever she wanted. She went to a few mutant gatherings, wanting to see how others like her lived. It was appalling to see just how victimized some of them were. They had no idea how to live up to their potential. It was at one such gathering that she heard of the Brotherhood. Now those were mutants who knew how to take control. At first, she was hesitant to seek them out. They had a bad reputation, even among mutants, as radical terrorists. After the assassination attempt on the president, mutants became even more of a target. For the first time since she left her homeland, she saw people being beaten in the streets for no other reason then which side of the line they were born on. Disgusted by how vile the 'normal' humans acted, Xi'an finally approached the Brotherhood. They recognized her powers, and the awesome potential that she had. She was readily accepted, and took the name of 'Karma'. It only seemed appropriate. She would return all those "favors" that she'd received over the years. Karma hadn't been with the Brotherhood for very long at all when the Alkali Lake incident happened. She was one of the lucky ones, one of the few to survive, and it only cemented her hate for humans even more. Now, with the world teetering on a very fine edge, she had no doubts about her loyalties for the first time in a long time. |