Morgan Arcana
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Morgan Arcana | |
| Player: @psychomartini | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Blaster |
| Security Level: | 43 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | unknown (possibly Morgan Le Fay) |
| Known Aliases: | Morg, Mistress Arcana |
| Species: | Humanoid |
| Age: | unknown (appears late 20's, possibly over 850) |
| Height: | 6' |
| Weight: | undisclosed |
| Eye Color: | green |
| Hair Color: | red |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | unknown (possibly Welsh) |
| Occupation: | currently superhero / tech tinkerer |
| Place of Birth: | unknown (possibly British Isle) |
| Base of Operations: | Underground Catacomb, location undisclosed. |
| Marital Status: | single |
| Known Relatives: | unknown (most would be deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
| Energy blasts, spells | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Energy manipulation, spellcasting, flight | |
| Equipment | |
| targeting drone (old camera she modified), other gadgets as needed | |
| genius IQ (180+) | |
Contents |
The Beginning
The Rikti War
Into the Catacomb
Morgan found her way back into the ruin, and noticed the tomb she had climbed out of bore a heavily-embellished M across the top. As she ran her hand across the surface of the etching, memories started coming back to her. "Adeo mihi , Lux lucis of Vita" she spoke suddenly, and as the words came out of her mouth, a small ball of light appeared near her shoulder. She found by focusing her will, she could cause it to move, grow, and shrink. Using her newfound lightsource, Morgan scoured the shattered remnants of what appeared to be an old laboratory. It took her the better part of a month, but with magic slowly infusing her, she managed to rebuild the refuge. Without needing to eat or sleep, time started to slip away, and Morgan delved into the countless arcane tomes littered about the area, though some were incomplete. She even found parts of a series supposedly belonging to none other than Merlin himself. Only somewhat convinced that the evidence pointed toward her being the Morgan Le Fay of legend, she continued to experiment and explore. By the time she resurfaced, it had been over six months. The Rikti War had ended, and Morgan was shocked to learn of the losses. It was then she learned of the destruction of the Midnight Squad, and again Morgan knew despair over the life and knowledge lost to alien greed. This time, she was determined to go out and see what good she could do in this world.
The Outside World
Using the knowledge contained in the vast library, Morgan quickly acclimated herself to new ideas and the constant innovations in technology. While at a pawn shop she picked up an old camera, the manufacturer having been an old Irish man by the name of Mac Giolla Bhride, or MacBride nowadays. Morgan could not help but feel an affinity for the far-traveled device, as out of place in this world as she was. After a fair bit of tinkering, she bestowed the camera with an advanced targeting system, which helped her keep an extra set of eyes open, and a sentient AI program. She nicknamed it "Willie", and keeps it as her constant companion. Although she has since created many other such devices, only Willie is constantly updated and serviced, and is the only one she installed an AI to.
The Rikti World Invasion
Her laboratory now fully functioning and updated, Morgan was just putting the finishing touches on her new Stealth Suit when the Rikti reappeared. This time, Morgan was more than ready. Using the latest in stealth technology, outfitted with a silent flight system, and powered by a customized core based on a magic-storing Tesla coil, the suit enabled Morgan to deal with the Rikti most effectively. Its during this time she started meeting with other heroes, and truly started to feel at home in Paragon. Seeing all the other up and coming heroes inspired a lot of pride in her, and she is always willing to aid another in need.
A Current View
Morgan still patrols fairly regularly, now expanding her horizons past Croatoa, where she has been hunting Tuatha de Dannan, Fir Bolg, and the Red Caps which she finds most annoying. She's been using this time to consult with local witches about their history and lore. She's also begun mentoring some younger heroes, and has been catching up on pop culture. Her current favorite is the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which she finds quite humorous, and has crafted a costume based on the character Columbia.
Appearance
Morgan is a natural beauty, more striking than anything. Her features are sharp, her long red hair and emerald green eyes pointing towards her Irish ancestry. She does have freckles, though light upon her skin, they become more apparent if she tans (which she tends to burn, and thus, most will not notice too much). She stands quite tall at just under six feet, and has a solid athletic build typical of a hearty medieval noblewoman. Her face tends to be quite expressive, and her inquisitive nature tends to make her squint and lean in on both people and objects as she studies them thoroughly. She never forgets a face, and is generally quite friendly with those she knows, and a bit more reserved upon a first meeting.
Powers and Abilities
Morgan Arcana is capable of harnessing the energy of Primal Earth itself, which most refer to as "magic". In battle, she will generally focus this energy into blasts of concussive force. She can be deadly precise with this ability, as she only has to know that the target exists near her to focus, and does not always need direct line of sight. She is also capable of magical spellcasting at mastery levels, much of which is innate to her, and more available through the spellbooks of Morgan Le Fay and Merlin. It has been noted that the language of her spells is almost always Latin, (though she seems to be a polyglot) and most of the phases are simple conjurings. What makes them different from any other person speaking the same phrases can only be the aptitude she possesses. She has been known to duplicate other beings' powers through said castings, such as summoning distant teammates. This is also what is generally thought to be what allows her to fly, though no somatic component has been witnessed as necessary for that ability. When not actively concentrating on hiding it, her power leaks a bright blue around her hands, and even if suppressing it, some sparks still escape. The full extent of her power is still yet unknown, though it may be easier to find out what she cannot do.
Morgan also possesses limited telepathy, a high resistance to psychic intrusions, and an innate immunity to magic, likely because of her mental discipline and general nature.
Equipment
Morgan's astounding IQ and photographic memory give her an insatiable lust for knowledge, and a natural aptitude for technology. Between this and her magical prowess, there seems to be nothing she cannot design, given proper time and resources. She is known to carry her targeting drone, "Willie", an array of smoke and web grenades, short-fuse trip mines, and other such devices. She also carries some magically shrunken resources and spell components in the vials and pouches on her belt. Her prized design, aside from Willie, is her stealth suit. The magically-enhanced Tesla coil gives the suit an unlimited power source, as well as serving as a self-contained environment. Recently, she integrated the stealth capability itself into a large wristband she conceals under the sleeve of her left arm.
Weaknesses
Morgan's mastery of magic and genius IQ make her a tough opponent, however, she is a human, and presumably, mortal. She heals only slightly faster than a normal human without magical aid, and takes damage just like anyone else. Wounds anywhere near her hands, including her forearms, tend to leak blue luminescence, and heal fairly quick, though. Also, since her magical might is derived from the primal energies of Earth, it could be theorized that if taken off planet, possibly not too far into space, her magic would fail her completely, to a unknown end. When a friend once asked her about her stealth suit's self-contained atmosphere and whether or not that meant she would fly off-planet, she turned to him, wide-eyed, and answered with a simple "No." If pressed on the subject, Morgan will reveal that space travel does frighten her, for some reason, possibly the unknown state of her powers. And although she combines magic with technology, she is afraid of bio-tech. "Living creatures and machines....can co-exist, but should not co-habitate in a single physical form....it is an abberation of nature." Finally, she nurses a deep-seated hatred for the Rikti, who not only "woke" her, but destroyed her best starting point when they bombed the Midnight Squad's base and killed it's members. That rage could be used against her.
Although she tends to hang out in Croatoa and hunt the fey there, she does not hold any particular grudge against them, just seeing it as her duty to assist with, being a magic-user. The Circle of Thorns she really pays little mind to; for all their power, Morgan holds it as a near-absolute that they will never see success. Afraid to inadvertently destroy any piece of knowledge they may have collected, though, she only battles them when she must, and otherwise generally just avoids them.
Discovering the Truth
Morgan has a secret. She has at least one answer to her questions... she is not Morgan Le Fay. She is, however, a stasis clone created by Le Fay, one of several, to be awakened if needed. This is why she spent so long in the lab after her initial awakening: she could barely handle the shock of "not being real" as she saw it. As she tore through the texts and spellbooks around her, she did come across the means and methods used in her creation, as well as the one thing that saved her: an old copy of Discourse on the Method by Descartes in which she found existence with the phase Cogito ergo sum or "I think, therefore I am". Using this justification as a basis, Morgan slowly built her existence back up piece by piece, realizing that if she could act, think, and interact, then she must be "real". Holding this close to her heart, her research continued, offering up many startling revelations:
- She was one of several, scattered across the globe and buried deep in not-yet settled locations by Le Fay. Le Fay kept these locations secret, only leaving behind coded phases as to their general locations. Each of these locations, however, is purposely along a ley line, which is also a key component for the continued stability of the stasis clone.
- The runic "M" carved into the top of the tomb was a sealing key, only able to be opened by Le Fay herself, or one sharing her blood. However, Le Fay had not forseen the possibility of a Rikti laser shearing through the lab, and through the stone of the tomb itself. With the seal broken, the activation was triggered, thus awakening Morgan.
- Morgan was imprinted with Le Fay's brain and mystical prowess... she is, in every way, a clone. However, due to the lapse in time, the spell required "reminders" be left behind, trigger the memories. Thus the laboratory full of books on various subjects, and the spellbooks. Also of note is this is the reason why Morgan, when threatened, reacted with a magic offense. The threat was the trigger.
- The major component for this spell was a shard of a relic created by Merlin called the "Necessarius Mico" or "Essential Spark". This relic could purportedly create life itself, and as such, was amazingly powerful. However, a mere shard could only imbue life, not create it directly, thus the need for the stasis clones. Le Fay's stolen shards surely weakened the relic, which could explain why she nor Merlin has been seen in the current timeline.
In all of Morgan's research, she has yet to find any leads whatsoever on the location of the Spark. This remains her greatest desire, for with it, she could find the answers to her own existence... so she believes.
What Morgan Does NOT know
The shard of the Spark is placed into the container it imbues, and thus, a fragment resides within Morgan. She thought it odd that she had a Celtic Pentacle tattoo in the center of her chest, right above her breast line. This is in truth another rune of Le Fay's devising, which allows the Spark shard to be placed within and extracted from the vessel. However, the bindings on it and the fact that it was placed inside her after she was cloned leave Morgan with no memory of this.
Character Evolution
The idea for Morgan obviously stems from Morgan Le Fay. I tried that and Morganna and such, and eventually settled on taking arcana from the minor tarot. This fit in well with the original concept I had, with Morgan being the Queen of Cups, symbolic of Love triumphing all, or overruling her darker nature from the mythos. Upon further research though, many legends existed that did not depict Morgan Le Fay as evil at all; sure, she had moments, but she was not nearly as sinister as her name seemed to imply. Since I did not get the "real" name, my thoughts turned to her being a descendant, or an imposter. Heck, she could have been the real deal with amensia. But, I like this outline most of all, and that is what stuck.
Influences
Well, Morg is obviously based partially on the legends of her namesake. When I designed her, I wanted her to have a strong feminine presence, thus her height and solid build, which seemed to be the exact opposite of what I saw everywhere else. Her base appearance I kind of took from Angie Everhart with a more Irish tilt. She was originally going to be Energy / Energy, but I had heard so many good things about the targeting drone, that I tried devices. Some really good groups later, and she ended up as my main.
Random Trivia
- I originally wanted Morgan to be the Queen of Cups, and start a SG based on the 4 classes of the 4 elements.
- Her original outfit was far more dark and "witchy", but as the character grew I realized she would have assimilated current fashion trends quite easily, and being female, it would probably be somewhat of a priority. Thus, her current look.
- She originally had the "Glam" style hair, which I still prefer on her... but it cuts into the cape so much I went with her current style.
