Mannah Blackwater
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| It's all in her mind... | |
| Mannah Blackwater | |
| Player: @Plum Whine | |
| Basic Data | |
| Origin: | Mutation |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Controller |
| Security Level: | - |
| Occupation: | Hero, student |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Mannah Blackwater |
| Known Aliases: | none really |
| Identity: | public |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 19 |
| Height: | 5'5 |
| Weight: | average |
| Eye Color: | dark blue |
| Hair Color: | pink with black highlights |
| Blood Type: | mutated |
| Biographical Data | |
| Birthplace: | Talos Island |
| Birthdate: | 1991 |
| Citizenship: | American |
| Current Residence: | Talos Island, with her parents |
| Religion/Faith: | uncertain |
| Sexual Orientation: | questionable |
| Marital Status: | single |
| Known Languages | |
| English | |
| Known Relatives | |
| Kylie and Robert Blackwater (parents), no siblings | |
| Known Powers | |
| ability to push her insanity and emotions onto her enemies | |
| Training / Abilities | |
| - | |
| Equipment | |
| none | |
| Footnotes | |
| There are three distinct 'voices' she speaks about: Adam, Jeffery, and Alice. To her they're real. To others they seem imaginary, but the question is, are they really there? | |
Mannah was an ordinary girl who dreamed of competitive swimming and idolized Freedom Phalanx and the Dawn Patrol until sometime after the Rikti invasion was driven completely insane. She hears voices in her head and seems to feel emotions not her own. Her primary allies are three heroes no one else seems to see, Adam, Jeffery, and Alice, each with distinct personalities and aspects. Only recently has she discovered that she's a mutant with the ability to displace her insanity on her enemies and registered as a hero to follow in the footsteps of her idols.
Contents |
Undeniable Insanity
Mannah is undeniably insane. What actually drove Mannah insane is also unknown but is most often linked to the first Rikti invasion. She hears voices inside her head almost nonstop. There are currently three distinct voices belonging to Adam, Jeffery, and Alice, which she speaks to on a normal basis. To her, there are three superheroes which stand along side her and help her out, but no one else seems to see them. Whether or not the three are actually real is unknown, however speaking to these three people seems to help her cope with emotions and the voices and keep her aware of what's going on.
Mannah is strangely lucid and despite always appearing lost and dazed, is rather aware of her surroundings. She's perfectly aware that she's crazy and values anyone who can get past that and befriend her. Behind all the crazy, Mannah is truly a good person. She is kind and friendly, valuing friendship and honor. She cares deeply for those who would consider her a friend and does what she can to use her strange power to keep them safe and hinder their opposition. She truly wants to help people, just as her heroes did, and fight valiantly just like them. She openly wants to be a hero and help save the world but still has a looming desire to be on a swim team once again.
When speaking, Mannah has a bad tendency to stare at whoever she's talking to. She usually smiles but almost always appears lost in some distant land. Sometimes she speaks with drawn out words but most of the time, she simply speaks very melodically. Mannah has a tendency to tilt her head to the side and probably doesn't realize she's doing it most of the time. She also translates for the three superheroes she sees but no one else does. She's become rather aware that she's the only one who sees them and simply speaks on their behalf.
Adam
Adam was the first distinct voice to speak to Mannah. He first appeared after the sacrifice of Omega Team to stop the Rikti invasions. According to Mannah, he's about 6' tall, blond hair, and a tight spandex outfit. His outfit seems to resemble Hero 1 with different colors and no helmet. Of the distinct voices, Adam seems to be the voice of reason and reassurance. He seems to speak calmly and is the clearest voice of them all. Mannah claims he's always with her, watching over her to make sure she's safe.
Jeffery
Jeffery first appeared after the second wave of Rikti invasions in 2007 alongside Alice. Jeffery is the one with the sense of humor and is most obviously present when Mannah starts giggling randomly. He apparently tends to speak harshly about people, but Mannah finds it amusing at times. Mannah finds his presence to be good at lightening her spirits. Jeffery's appearance is unknown.
Alice
Alice appeared at the same time as Jeffery. She was Mannah's first female friend and seems to check out boys quite a bit. Mannah describes her as Numina wearing red and blue, aged around 26. Alice is the voice of femininity and compassion. Supposedly it was Alice who taught Mannah to be forgiving, even after everything she'd been put through.
A History of Emotions
Talos
Mannah was born a fairly normal child in the Phoenix Medical Center in Talos Island in 1991. She grew up in a relatively family of technological businessmen who worked in the lower ranks of the rather booming businesses of the island. The family had a comfortable apartment in a nice location. The family often went to the beach on weekends. When she learned to talk, Mannah begged her parents to go to the beach more often, and with this increased interest, her parents placed her in swimming classes, which she found she enjoyed greatly. There was simply something about swimming that set her mind at peace.
When she was in 5th grade in 2001, she joined the youth swim team and excelled at it, placing 1st place in several different events. Swimming seemed to be the only thing on her mind. Even sitting in class, she longed to simply return to the pool or even the sea to swim to her heart's content. The place seemed to make her the happiest of anywhere on the island.
But in May 2002, everything began to change. On the 23rd, lights began appearing across all of Paragon City. The Rikti had arrived and a war began. Thousands fought and died overnight. The 24th came and all seemed peaceful and normal, thanks to the valiant efforts of superheroes.
Several months Mannah pulled herself out of the pool that afternoon, she suddenly doubled over in pain, sobbing uncontrollably. She grabbed her head, begging for the emotions pouring into her to stop but they just kept coming. Her parents quickly rushed her to the hospital. CAT scans and MRIs later, nothing showed up abnormally. After three days, the sobbing finally stopped, leaving Mannah an emotional mess which psychologists passed off as post traumatic syndrome. While Talos Island itself has mysteriously avoided the Rikti attack, the entire world was affected by the Rikti wars. Mannah idolized many of the heroes which had fought and sacrificed themselves to stop the Rikti. Psychologists believed this had traumatized her and she'd simply learn to cope with the pain.
Adam
Coping with emotional stress was never easy. Mannah returned to swimming months later, but something had changed within her. She began speaking to someone named Adam. No one ever saw Adam, yet Mannah vehemently claimed that she could see him and couldn't understand why no one else could. Adam was a superhero in a valiant costume, proud and strong, just like the superheroes who had sacrificed themselves to stop the Rikti. As Mannah had always idolized superheroes, her parents simply assumed this Adam person was a manifestation of her own mind as a means to coping with the trauma.
Mannah's relationship with Adam only seemed to help her improve. She found herself happier and in higher spirits. At first, her parents welcomed Adam. He was helping her, after all, even if he were simply a manifestation of her own mind. Come 2006, Mannah continued to speak with Adam. Now most 15 year olds don't speak to people who aren't there, yet Mannah continued to swear Adam really was there. Her parents placed her in therapy sessions to stop the hallucinations but nothing seemed to work. Adam persisted. Early 2007, Mannah was committed to a state hospital, her parents saying they just wanted Mannah back to her old self.
Jeffery and Alice
2007 was a difficult year. In July, everything turned for the worse. The Rikti returned in waves, causing so much destruction. Mannah found herself sobbing in pain on a normal basis for about a month. The pain was uncontrollable. The sorrow and devastation. There were so many voices in her head, so many emotions. Mannah was losing herself, yet Adam remained there to comfort her. She claimed he was the only one who didn't think she was crazy. Something was wrong and she couldn't stop the noise.
Months later, Mannah began talking to two different people. While Adam still persisted, Jeffery and Alice had joined the group. They, too, were superheroes and spoke to her on a normal basis. While Adam stayed, Jeffery and Alice came and went on occasion. Mannah claimed the trio was helping stop the hundreds of voices and emotions that were welling up inside of her. Mannah also claimed the trio said she didn't belong there.
In 2008, Mannah was quite well lost in her own thoughts, primarily speaking to Adam, Jeffery and Alice. She became overwhelmed with much of the emotions and voices welling around in her mind and was quite quickly losing herself to them. During a group therapy session, the entire group began to sob uncontrollably, much as Mannah had done during the Rikti invasions, yet Mannah herself wasn't crying. Instead her hair had suddenly changed another color and she was surrounded by bright strange lights.
Silence
It was then the doctors decided to have her DNA tested and quite quickly found she had a complex DNA strand. Mannah was a mutant. Her parents also had their DNA tested and both parents had complex DNA, but not quite as complex as herself. Her parents blamed themselves for not having her tested sooner, yet Mannah didn't blame them. They didn't know themselves, so why would they expect she her DNA had mutated as well?
After nearly two years of absence, Mannah returned to finish high school. While Mannah's kindness and ambitions still remained, she constantly appeared lost in thought and spoke of Adam openly. She was alienated at school not only because of being a mutant, but also because she was quite literally insane. Mannah sought solace at the beach quite frequently. Swimming seemed to clear her mind and bring her mind to peace.
In 2009, while walking home from the beach, she was stopped by a gang of Warriors demanding whatever she had in her backpack. Honestly it was simply a change in clothes and school books, which doubtfully they wanted, yet she still froze in her tracks, she knew she had powers for the last half a year but hadn't been able to discover them. It wasn't fire, water, earth, or anything obvious like that. Those Warriors would soon find out she had the ability to push her rather complicated and confusing emotions onto her enemies and they promptly grasped at their heads in pain, screaming about the voices suddenly welling up inside them. And for a short moment, Mannah heard silence.
After graduation from high school, Mannah registered as a hero. She needed to find someone to help her learn to control her strange ability to displace her insanity on others and use it for the greater good of Paragon City.
Help
Mannah traveled with several groups, attempting to hone her powers on her own. It was rather difficult and wasn't working, resulting in frequent headaches. Fortune seemed to find her as she ran into Nigredo Fist, a rather well-known mutant. It was a great opportunity to see if he could find a group for her to help her control her powers and become a strong hero. After all, who better to help than another mutant? And sure enough, he did have a solution. He invited her to join The Young Watchers and said he would find her the proper help. It really was the first time she truly felt someone could help her.
Mannah began to make friends with the Watchers. When her abilities began to change drastically, she took it upon herself to learn to better control her mutation. This marked the sudden disappearance of Jeffery. Mannah worked desperately to control her own mind more so she didn't bring harm to her new friends and was rather successful. Her mind became clearer and she returned to school. However, as she began to suppress her power more and more in order to control it when she wasn't using it to aid others, an unfortunate side effect began appearing and the silence was short-lived. Jeffery's return marked the return of the voices, bizarre hallucinations, and general awkwardness. Her mutation was essentially turning on her own mind affecting her instead of her friends. The loss of control was gradual, starting with minor hallucinations at first. As her power became stronger, so did the delusions.
Insanity Abbreviated
A quick list about Mannah
- While Mannah's fulfilling her dreams of being a hero, she still longs to return to competitive swimming.
- While Mannah is susceptible to psionic attacks, anyone who attempts to probe her mind will only be met with thousands of voices and emotional distress.
- The only group that Mannah truly hates are the Rikti.
- Mannah doesn't necessarily see her insanity as a problem, just something life handed to her. However she does wish to be more in control of it so she can use it to her advantage against enemies. However, given the chance to be rid of the voices, she would probably take it.
- Despite her insanity, Mannah is relatively intelligent and is still considering what her major should be in college.
Friends beyond insanity
A list of friends which are physically there
Acquaintances
- Acoustic Bullet: Matt
- Aldora Vladimire: The first person in the D Mannah didn't scare away. She has very pretty wings and seems quite sweet.
- Powerplasm: Mannah first met Mark on a mission in Faultline. He's rather nice and Alice seems to have a crush on him. He also doesn't seem to think Mannah's crazy and wants to know what Alice is thinking, which is definitely a first.
- Quartz Avenger: Siwon. He's from Korea.
TYW
- Nigredo Fist: Commander of the Young Watchers. Mannah had heard of him and was absolutely thrilled to meet him in person. He definitely is the strong leader she expected him to be, dealing with crazies pretty well. Mannah has found confiding in him incredibly helpful, especially with an onset of strange powers, such as striking fear into a group.
- Rey Makaiau: Chief. Mannah doesn't know much about him, but he seems quite nice and his banter with the Commander is rather amusing.
- Glamour-Shot: 'Glam' is a model whom Mannah apparently scares shitless. She's seen him a few times later and has gotten to know him a little bit better. He apparently loves swimming, which is something they both have in common
- Sky Altitude: Really the first mutant she's talked to. Unfortunately, she may have scared him off before being able to really get to know him. She had seen him a few times in the Watchers before something happened to his powers and he seemed to have lost it. He took leave of the group recently.
Miscellaneous
Testimonials
If you've met Mannah and all of her insanity, leave an IC testimonial here!
Playlist
Mannah prefers rock and metal as it drowns out a lot of noise
- "Dream of Mirrors", Iron Maiden
- "Blood Brothers", Iron Maiden
- "Angels Forgive Me", "Firewind
- "Circle of Life", Firewind
- "Head up High", Firewind
- "Life Foreclosed", Firewind
- "Mein Herz brennt", Rammstein
Journal
Mannah keeps a journal here
