Khamsen
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Khamsen | |
| Player: @Steampunkette | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Peacebringer |
| Security Level: | 32 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Tashefit El-Masyra |
| Known Aliases: | Tasha |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 24 or 31 (depending on perspective) |
| Height: | 6'2" |
| Weight: | 180lbs |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Egyptian-English-American |
| Occupation: | Superheroine |
| Place of Birth: | Cairo, Egypt |
| Base of Operations: | London, England |
| Marital Status: | None |
| Known Relatives: | Mother, Father |
| Known Powers | |
| Manipulation of Divine Energies | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Confidential | |
| Equipment | |
| Cell Phone | |
| Character is not a Kheldian IC | |
"Some people are born to be heroes. Some become heroes by the choices they make in the last moments of their life. For me it was... Complicated." -Khamsen
Contents |
Early Life
Tashefit El-Masyra was born to Moammen and Rana El-Masyra in Cairo Egypt in 1988. Her parents rejoiced finally having a healthy baby after having tried, unsuccessfully, for nearly eleven years to conceive. She was raised as a Coptic Christian, a member of an extreme religious and cultural minority, learning to speak both Coptic Egyptian and Egyptian Arabic. However, before she was five years old her father formally resigned his position at a wealthy investment firm and moved his family to England to pursue other personal, and familial, interests. Growing up in England afforded the young Tashefit a posh lifestyle among some of the wealthiest families in London. This afforded her the ability to master a third language: English. Which she speaks with a Received Pronunciation accent faintly muddled with Multicultural London English thanks to the influence of her parents and a few friends.
In spite of her parents' wishes, however, Tashefit moved away from Coptic Christianity fairly young in life. Likely influenced by the pressure of friends in school and the general cultural constraints of the religion itself. While they did not attempt to control her religious faiths, they did feel betrayed. They were only further scandalized when they learned that she had fallen to Egyptian Paganist beliefs regarding the numerous Gods of Egypt. And while they did not like that her beliefs were so counter to their ideal of a single loving god, they accepted that she followed the will of Ma'at, whose laws and decrees at least kept the girl kind, polite, sociable, and out of any sort of trouble.
During Secondary School, Middle School for Americans, she began to exhibit the tell tale signs of mutagenic superpowers. In her case in the form of a rare and unusual control over both the random and directed motion of silicon particles. Pyroterrakinesis allowed her to increase the heat of sand as she launched it towards her enemies or caused it to move or be shaped by her whim. Her parents and a young man she'd known for several years as a close personal friend became aware of her powers, but she managed to hide them, regardless.
The rest of her young life was spent pretending to be "Normal". She went to dance classes, appeared at social functions, and generally lived her life as an ordinary, if wealthy, young woman. She even began dating her longtime friend Ian, with whom she enjoyed dance classes. Her parents were delighted by the pairing, and held hopes for a grandchild.
Superheroics
Unfortunately, hopes toward a grandchild were delayed, somewhat, when Tashefit reached 18 years old and announced her intention to move to Paragon City to become a superhero in late July of 2006. There were arguments for weeks about the decision, but ultimately Moammen was convinced to not only allow her to travel to the US but to fund the venture and provide routine Air Fare to allow her to return for visits. With tearful goodbyes, the El-Masyra family let their only daughter take the most implausible risks.
While in Paragon, Tashefit took on the mantle of Sandstorm and immediately took to the streets to fight against Hellions, Skulls, and Trolls. It was only later that she learned that another hero also used the name Sandstorm and that he was quite upset that she was performing heroics in his name. Eventually she spoke to the city and had her superheroic identity formally changed to Khamsen. The Arabic name for Egyptian Sandstorms caused by sea-winds early in the year.
She became quite popular among some of the lower grade superheroes of Paragon City, and worked her way up the ranks over the following five years. Even earning particular distinction during the second Rikti War when she flung her body across a fallen hero to protect him against an incoming energy blast. She spent three months recovering in a hospital bed from near-fatal injuries sustained in the process.
Her primary foes were the Council, the Family, and Crey Biotech. Each of which had failed, numerous times, to kill her.
Death
In 2010 the Praetorian War began with the first incursions of Praetorians to Earth. Many sought Asylum. Others sought Aid from the heroes of Earth to fight against their cruel and oppressive overlords. But many came through simply to cause mayhem and destruction. Khamsen sought to fight back against those who came through with violence in their hearts and attempted to help the rest become better people. But as the war raged on, and got more violent, her time was spent more and more fighting against the Soldiers of Cole and the monsters the Emperor unleashed.
As the final Invasions began, Khamsen wished heroes luck that passed through into Praetoria, some never to be seen again, to disable the Praetorian infrastructure and rescue the prisoners of various locations. She, on the other hand, knowing that she lacked the requisite power to engage in such warfare, much less the willingness to fight in such a merciless way, remained on Primal Earth, fighting to protect those who had come through in earnest desire of peace as well as the civilians of the City of Heroes.
During one of the final Incursions into our reality, Khamsen found herself fighting a losing battle against a small army of Ghouls that sought to kill and consume the civilians she had been protecting in a Brickstown office building. Recognizing the danger and the stakes, she managed to hold the Ghouls inside the building until the last civilian had gotten out. As the Ghouls finally overwhelmed her, she focused all the remaining power she had on collapsing the structure, killing the rampaging ghouls, and herself, in the collapse of the burning building.
Funeral and Unmasking
Much of her body had been destroyed by the building's collapse and the fire. But what remained was recovered and prepared for burial with honors in Paragon City. Moammen and Rana El-Masyra stepped forward to claim the body, revealing that their daughter had been Khamsen, and grieved with those of the city who attended the funeral. Dozens of heroes attended, alongside nearly two thousand people who had been saved by the heroine during her 6 year tenure, and people that she had helped both with and without her mask.
She was buried with honors in a mausoleum near her Founder's Falls home, one which bore her graven superhero likeness upon the doors as so many in Paragon City did.
Meanwhile, Tashefit's soul began a different journey. She found herself standing on red sand near to a great river. Nearby a man with skin like onyx sat upon a rug with a scale, and beyond him a man with skin of jade stood at the prow of a river barge, leaning against a long pole. Recognizing both Anubis and Osiris, Tashefit sat upon the carpet and bared her heart to the Jackal God, letting him take it from her chest to weigh against the feather of Ma'at... None were prepared for her heart to weigh less than the feather.
For the next seven years, Tashefit's Ka lived in bliss in A'aru, the Field of Reeds, reliving all the joy and comfort she had given, receiving it upon herself. While her Ba visited her parents and kept their grief at bay as best it could. But only for seven years, for the Gods had given her a choice. One that she had to accept. And it would take them seven years to rebuild her body. Seven years to prepare their own organs to transplant into it. Seven years until she would wake and fight, again. Against the coming darkness.
Rebirth
Tashefit El-Masyra, the Khamsen, was reborn seven years after her death. Her form restored and largely replaced with pieces of the gods to give her fragments of their various powers. No longer did she command sand, but the divine energies of A'aru and Heliopolis. The only truly remaining piece of her, the only organ they did not replace... was her heart. The resting place of the Soul, where Ka and Ba become one. In honor of her journey she has recently changed her name to Seshen. The Egyptian word for Lotus, which represents Rebirth, Beauty, and the Dawn within ancient Egyptian culture.
New threats stand upon the horizon. New allies stand by her side. But what will the future truly hold for her? Only time can show.
