Genine ExMu
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Genine is my main blue side character. I created her a few weeks after I bought the Good versus Evil edition and got access to the City of Heroes game. She was the first RP hero character I made, the others were just me experimenting with the archetypes. In a way Genine's story reflects my own playing experience in CoH. After playing City of Villains for two years, I came from and understand Rogue Isles well enough; But Paragon was at first big and confusing to me. Over time though I made some new friends and managed to get a couple old ones to come over to play heroes as well. So far I am very happy with the way this character has progressed. This is do less to my efforts as it is to my friends in The Justice Guard who accepted me into their super group soon after I made the character and have helped me develop her through role playing and general advise and feedback.
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| The renegade of her legacy | |
| Genine ExMu | |
| Player: @Hagia Sophia | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Blaster |
| Security Level: | 45 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Mu'Genine |
| Known Aliases: | none |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 19 |
| Height: | 5'2" |
| Weight: | 110lb |
| Eye Color: | Right:Green Left:Blue |
| Hair Color: | Red |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Rogue Island |
| Occupation: | Hero/Magi |
| Place of Birth: | Grandville |
| Base of Operations: | Steel Canyon |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Mother |
| Known Powers | |
| Use of Mu Magic | |
| Known Abilities | |
| ' | |
| Equipment | |
| none | |
| ' | |
Contents |
Affiliations
Friends and Allies
- Captain Amazing -- Romantic interest
- Tsun-ami
- May-Day
- Whyte Noise
- Mighty Jo Yung
- Reggie the Raven -- villain
- Volare
- ArchStrike
Primary Enemies
- Scirocco -- Arch-Villain
- Ice Mistral -- Arch-Villain
Personality
The first impression that most people have about Genine ExMu is that she is shy and timid. And under most circumstances this is how she is. Most who meet her, find it hard to believe that she is a crime fighter at all, or that she is a descendant of Mu. Those who have gone on missions with her, or have been in battle with her either as ally or adversary, know better. Her training was done by Recluse's terrorist organization Arachnos. In battle she can be both ruthless and efficient, especially when those she cares about are threatened or hurt. Genine has no problem at all facing down one of the demons summoned by the Circle of Thorns but then has been known to flee in terror at the sight of a reporter.
Having once been on the wrong side of the wall, Genine prefers not to be noticed in the arena of Paragon politics. She actively tries to avoid to much contact with the larger named heroes such as Statesman or Miss Liberty. Instead she would rather let her superiors in the Justice Guard handle interacting with the other heroes. She herself is content to do whatever she can to protect the people of Paragon city, her adopted home, as quietly and without fanfare as she can manage, and to pay back the debt she feels she owes them for accepting a Mu runaway from the Isles. She willingly follows other members of the Justice Guard taking her role in missions assigned to her seriously. More often that not, she is found in the Company of her boyfriend Captain Amazing, or her first friend among the Justice Guard May-Day
Also because of her unusual upbringing among the Mu of the Rogue Isles, Genine came to Paragon with a rather unorthodox ethical view. While she has forsaken the cause of evil, and does her best to live up to her status as a registered hero, she has found the code of conduct of that exalted position a difficult one to adhere to. Many of her fellow heroes disapprove of Genine and her methods at times. With the help of the Justice Guard and her friends, Genine is turning her tactics more towards what is acceptable among the residents of Paragon and freedom corp as a whole. She is still plagued by a bit of an inferiority complex however, and is very aware that the people who love their heroes also love to tear them down. Because of this she is constantly afraid that she is crossing a line somewhere and will lose her hero status.
Equipment
As a Mystic of the Mu, or rather a former Mu, Genine uses all the equipment associated with the order. Mostly she has an impressive library of arcane books she is constantly adding to with tomes taken from the Oranbega libraries, Halruaa, or any other source she can find. Also she actively seeks out contacts who deal with supernatural threats to Paragon so she can supplement her collection of arcane goodies. One item of the Mu that she has chosen to eschew is the bindings that the mystics are usually seen in, preferring to move freely. She still has the Mu uniform she used to wear when part of the order but rarely puts it on since it bears the symbol of Arachnos.
Weaknesses
Genine's heritage means that there is a connection between her and the Mu. As a result it is possible for the Mu and Scirocco to use her as a sympathetic connection to scry on the Justice Guard. As a result Genine always wears an arcane inhibitor. Also she is a mystic practitioner of magic and is subject to all of the limitations and rules associated with the craft. She was raised like all Mu to venerate the goddess Hequat, and up till recently thought of Hequat the way most people think of their gods as an impersonal and metaphorical entity that has little to do with her day to day life. Recently though, Genine has been forced to recognize that Hequat does indeed exist as a physical entity interested in her personally and the world at large. Also the very foundation of her powers are meant to be subservient to the goddess. This is producing a conundrum for Genine that she has yet to solve
Probably the most crippling weakness that Genine has though is her own self doubt. she doesn't really see herself as a hero and is often afraid she will fail her friends, the Justice Guard, and Paragon city. A clever and charismatic villain or one who is capable of manipulating ones spirit or emotions could potentially use this trait in Genine to render her paralyzed in fear and self ridicule.
History
The path of the Mu is the path of denial of the worthless self, denial of all that would blind us to our service to our Goddess. She who shaped us, She who taught us, She who must be obeyed! Lord Recluse was a fool to think he could control the blood of Mu for his own ends, and Scirocco was even more a fool to think he could send the path to the Goddess to Arachnos' technicians to pick apart. The true powers of Mu will soon be unleashed!
- Rogue Mu Mystic (City of Villains)
Origins: Birth and Early Childhood
One drop of Mu Blood is worth a thousand of the lives of regular people.
- Mu Mystic (City of Villain seer Morino Arc)
Genine was born in the Haven House in Grandville on October 7th, 1988 to a member of the Mu order and a cocktail waitress from the Golden Giza in St. Martail. While custom dictated that she hold the Mu surname her mother actually picked her personal name hence she was born as Mu'Genine, and still occasionally uses that as her name even though she is no longer a member of the Mu order. For the first six years of her life, Genine lived as any other child would. Her mother and father, though not together, raised her as if they were a family. Her father as a member of Arachnos was constantly gone as is normal for men with military jobs. As such at this point in her life her mother had custody of her and was responsible for keeping the young Mu safe and providing for her, though her father did set them up in an apartment in St. Martail. Whenever her father had leave from his duties to Arachnos he visited his daughter, and Genine has fond memories of the man even though she now knows in her head that he was a ruthless killing machine to anyone not in Arachnos. While with his daughter Genine's father acted like any other dad. He took his daughter on outings to parks, on hikes around the mountains of Cap au Diable, and on vacations with him.
Then at age six, life for Genine changed. while other children in her neighborhood went on to start school, Genine was brought to the Arachnos building in Grandville and turned over to the Mu masters there to start her training as a mystic. For the first few years she was simply taught the same thing that other children were taught in school the only major additions to reading, writing, and math being a healthy dose of Arachnos propaganda and mystic training. By the time she was ten Genine was able to do most of the complex spells inherent in the blood of a Mu descendant. Every day after her training Genine was taken by her mother and brought back to St. Martail on the Rogue Island ferry along side the super villains and everyday citizens of the Isles that use the service.
It was at age ten that Genine started her combat training under Arachnos. she and other Mu students were pitted with and against wolf spider troops and fortunata seers as well as occasional blood widows in combat drills and scenarios. Naturally, the weapons used in these drills were set to a low setting so as not to be lethal to the children. However, when hit by one it was still painful, thus the children of the Mu, Genine included, learned to be afraid of losing. Occasionally accidents did happen and there was a couple of serious injuries in combat training including one death, that Genine herself witnessed, were an over zealous blood widow (Later known as Gray Moth) severed the spinal cord of one of the students.
At this point Genine was still expected to maintain a high standard in regular academic pursuits as well as practice the craft of the Mu order, was living in Grandville at the Arachnos academy full time. She was only able to see her mother during weekends and occasionally holidays. Her father at this point was discouraged by Arachnos to see his daughter during this period since it was hard enough for the Mu to train her properly without interference from a concerned parent. Genine actually excelled at combat training. Her teachers often used Genine in demonstrations of the effectiveness of their training program when being visited by Arachnos or Mu officers including on one occasion Lord Recluse himself.
While she excelled at general education, mysticism, and combat training. It was noted by her trainers that Genine was very shy. Since this tendency more often than not made Genine not question her teachers or vie with the other students for attention, her shyness often was looked at as a lack of ambition by the rest of the academy. As a result Genine was often ignored by her teachers who wanted to foster other students villainous tendencies. Because of this neglect, attention to Genine's indoctrination to the Mu and Arachnos party lines was somewhat lacking. She was never seen in the Academy as a threat to the order or Arachnos. So while other students had loyalty to Recluse, Scirocco, and the Mu (and secretly Hequat) mercilessly pounded into them, Genine was left almost alone to formulate her own opinions and ideas on Arachnos; her teachers figuring that she would accept whatever they told her without question. No one ever assumed that quiet shy Mu'Genine would have it in her to betray Arachnos. Instead they just kept telling her that she was fortunate to be destined to serve Arachnos and the Mu.
The second major change in Genine's life occurred at age twelve. By this time most of the Children in the academy were assigned individual teachers who were to foster their talents one on one. Genine's mentor at this time was Mu'Drakhan the historian and arch-mage of Nerva Archipelago. For some unknown reason Drahkan took a liking to the young girl and often treated her as a niece rather than a student.
Thus it was Drakhan that came to tell her that her father had been killed in Siren's Call, by a contingent of Longbow and heroes raiding one of Arachnos's facilities there in the continued fight for the sector. Drakhan had hoped to use the tragedy to instill a sense of hatred in the young girl towards Paragon and its protectors. Instead Genine fell into grief. Her father had been one of two people in her entire life that had loved her unconditionally. To Genine, her father was a small ray of light in a continuously dismal existence. Drak'han tried to get her to focus her grief into rage and counseled the girl. Genine, like she always did, accepted the teachers counsel and acted as though she took it to heart. However, her acceptance of the order's teachings at this point was irreparably shaken. If she was supposed to be a ruthless killing machine then why did this hurt her so much? It could not be right that she was expected to inflict this sort of pain on others. Sure at this time she was angry. She was, of course, angry at Paragon for killing her father; But she was also angry at Arachnos for putting him in danger in the first place, and for no other reason that to deliver the dim life of Grandville to the rest of the world as is the vision of Recluse.
The Moment of Truth: Teenage Years
I made a god, Out of blood, Not Superiority,
I killed the King, Of deceit, Lay me down in Anarchy.
- KFMDM "Anarchy"
By the time Genine was hitting the teenage years she had become an accomplished Mu mystic. Under the tutelage of Mu'Drakhan her talents for sorcery grew faster than any of her peers. She also excelled in the fields of philosophy and religious studies that were part of the Mu curriculum as well as combat and strategy. She was becoming the star pupil for the Mu Academy in Grandville. The only place were she was still outshone by her peers was in demonstrating the ambition and ruthlessness desired in Arachnos operatives. So while Genine was brought out for demonstrations whenever her teachers needed to look good in front of the Arachnos power players, they never really expected her to rise through the Arachnos ranks to become a Mu Guardian, though a scholastic arch-mage was within her reach.
The efforts of Arachnos to keep the children of the Mu sequestered away from mainstream society during the teenage years was designed to maintain the integrity of the indoctrination process. Since Recluse understands how dangerous the Mu would be if they escape from the control of Arachnos he thinks of this time in a young mystic's life as a critical point were he does not want them exposed to the influence from outside the organization. Predictably, this didn't indoctrinate the young Mu to Arachnos further. Instead it heightened in them the desire to rebel natural in almost all teenagers.
Genine was not an exception to this, her loyalty to the Arachnos, while never great, was already shaken by the death of her father. So when the other students started to sneak out to the various underground raves around the Rogue's Isles Genine was happy to go along with them. There she was exposed to the shows put on by DJ-Paragon later known as Whyte Noise. It was at these underground raves and shows that DJ paragon used to try and spread pro Longbow propaganda to the youth of the Rogue's Isles in the hopes of maybe recruiting a little help for the heroic cause in the heart of Lord Recluse's hooligan holiday. This was the first time in her life that Genine had been exposed to a point of view other than that of Arachnos. Of course she knew what Paragon city was. She knew about Longbow and about Statesman and the other heroes. But her knowledge of them and what they stood for was always clouded by the teachings of the Mu and Arachnos. By no stretch of the imagination was Genine at this point thinking that she would like to be in Paragon City, to stand among its heroes as one of them. These, after all, were the people who killed her father. But, she was suddenly forced to recognize that what she had been raised to value in her life was a lie.
Suddenly Genine who had been shy all her life began to question openly the teachings of the Mu and the loyalty to Arachnos that had been taught to her. While most of the other students by this time were thoroughly brainwashed and simply dismissed her, her teachers became concerned that their star pupil for combat and scholastics would prove to be an embarrassment to them if an arbiter or one of the inner circle or even one of the lieutenants happened to hear her. By this time Loyalty to the Mu and Arachnos should be a founding cornerstone of her personal make up, instead Genine was just beginning to demonstrate the aberrant thoughts that the Mu try to stamp out of a child years before this point. As a response, When Genine was fourteen years of age she was transfered from the tutelage of Mu'Drakhan to the ruthless and cruel Mu'Rakhir.
Mu'Rakhir was very proud of his legacy and of the Mu in general. He found it supremely frustrating that Mu'Genine did not share his pride. At first he looked at her assignment to him as a chance to mold the young girl into a loyal follower of his own faction within the Mu; but, soon he gave up and resorted to mercilessly abusing her in an attempt to break her down and reshape her. During one particularly vicious lesson Genine made the mistake of suggesting that the Mu had fallen far to trade slavery to the goddess Hequat, in exchange for slavery to a mere demi-god (Recluse). Rakhir's reaction was predictably violent. He attacked Genine torturing her with his crimson lightening and refused to stop until another Mu mystic intervened. This attack is the source of Genine's heterochromia. In Genine's case some of the the glands that produced pigments for her left eye were irreparably damaged and her left eye slowly began to turn from green to blue. The difference is slight and someone has to get close to her to notice it but there is a difference. Genine, being overly self critical over such things, tends to prefer hair styles that cover one side of her face.
The attack did more than leave its physical mark on Genine. Mentally it left its mark as well. Still to this day Genine has nightmares about that event, and often she wakes up feeling the sting of Rakhir's attacks. It also convinced her that for her own safety and survival she needed to leave Arachnos. This was not an easy decision for Genine to make. She was making a choice to leave behind her people and her legacy. However at this point Genine had become enraged: enraged at her birth for placing her in such danger, enraged at Arachnos for having the Mu as one of their factions, and enraged at Rakhir for trying to force her into his mold. Genine neither knew nor cared were her destiny lied or what she wanted out of life. All she did know is that she did not want it to include Arachnos.
Runaway
Hiding you from Arachnos is not the problem for me, and never has been. I am not certain that I can trust a Mu, not even a little girl and a runaway.
- Reggie The Raven
(work in progress more to come :) )
