Msimacho
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Born to a small town in Kenya, tale of Kwashi Okello begins with her as nothing special, and at first she wasn't. Five years would pass before the first sign of any mutation. Able to move and shape the ground with her will alone, she was feared by many, but praised by many more. Lacking the word 'mutant' in their vocabulary as a result of lacking knowledge of their existence all together, she was believed by her people to be the rebirth of some sort of entity.
It was soon discovered her abilities could be used for more than just moving around rocks; crops would grow on land thought barren, and able to literally take the Earth's 'energy', she learned to transfer it to make workers more efficient. Mainly, making them stronger in sync with increasing their movement speed.
As the demand for her abilities rose, her 'followers' became violent. Families benefiting from profit of the crops that grew and sold so rapidly began arguing over possession of the youth. A vicious storm caused the destruction of over half the community and the fighting soon got much worse. Pressured to work faster and an almost unbearable amount of man hours, Kwashi sought out as many ways to improve her powers as she could. Among these multiple tactics many in other cultures would consider strange, but no doubt the most odd was the eventual decision to carve out her eyes.
Horrifying as the concept may sound to anyone from anywhere, it did evidently work. With her loss of vision, Kwashi was forced to use the Earth for aid in movement, direction and overall as her substitute sense of sight. Through this, she became even more connected with the ground below her and her powers greatly improved.
A few days short of her 18th birthday, a couple named Jake and Lisa Martin arrived from Paragon as part of a mutant outreach program. They'd heard of Kwashi from a distance for a while. By time they managed to locate her, her name had since been changed to 'Msimacho', roughly translating into 'willfully blind person'. After a week of observation, it was determined Msi was indeed a mutant, and an abused one.
Through much strife, some legal battles, among other things, Msi was taken grudgingly and relocated in Paragon. Through a few months worth of experience she came to except she was in fact a mutant, no more or less. Afterward, her former hostility subsided and she became more helpful. Building an unshakable trust in Jake, she dedicated herself to his word both as her leader and as a father figure. When he was killed in the line of duty and Lisa was injured enough to be put on MIA status for a while, Msi took control of the group and guided it with an amount of skill she wasn't suspected capable of. However, she became unhappy, distant and quick to bare fangs once again.
Much of Msimacho's true story is the same as the one easily located by the public. As for where it starts to differ...
A few days short of her 18th birthday, a couple going by the false names of Jake and Lisa Martin arrived as part of what was supposedly an outreach program for mutants whose main base of operations was in Paragon. In reality, the two ran what was more or less a mercenary group. They'd heard of Kwashi from a distance for a while. By time they managed to locate her, her name had since been changed to 'Msimacho', roughly translating into 'willfully blind person'.
While they were legally married, Jake and Lisa were far from a real 'couple' and are best told as partners in crime. Through bribery, a few assassinations, and threats to Kwashi herself about the welfare of her younger brother, the couple obtained rights to the young woman through these forceful means and drug her back to Paragon. There she connected with the other "rescued" mutants and became the unsung leader among the group, mostly and a sort of guard dog for the others when Jake or Lisa's temper flared.
Eventually, a vicious feud between the two operators broke out. The details are known only by the one of them left standing, but whatever it was, it was bad enough to cause Lisa to turn traitor. A careful planner, she sent Jake to a bugged cave mission lined with assassins and explosives, and Msimacho to the other side of Paragon for another job. By complete chance, the man Msimacho was assigned to help eliminate was killed earlier than expected by a third party, thus rendering her time slot that day free and sending her off with Jake instead.
It took only a few steps into the cave before she realized they'd walked into a trap. Unfortunately, the squad hired to take out Jake succeeded in doing just that. Having not been alerted of any additional people arriving with him but not wanting to leave any witnesses, Msimacho's throat was cut and the cave was then demolished as planned.
Considered by Lisa as the best (aka most money making) "worker" she had due to her odd and incredibly rare sort of foresight, the woman was horrified by the loss. Gathering many sources through multiple underground connections, she located a mage specialized in the darker side of the magical arts. After her remains were recovered, the man revived and trapped what he called Msi's "soul essence". Encasing what was left of her body in a soon-to-be mobile chunk of rock, he bound her spirit to it.
As it turned out, Jake had hired a few assassins of his own prior to his death. Unlike him, Lisa survived her assault. With more power over Msi than ever, but far less than she'd predicted to have, she ordered her to take temporary control of the organization while she recovered from her injuries and spread lies through the media. Msi's spirit became angry and bitter, and the clueless public blamed it on losing the man she supposedly viewed as a father.
A time came when Msi threatened to out Lisa for what she really was, and what she was really doing. Even after threats of destroying the stone containing her body (which according to the mage would not only kill her for good, but make her completely non-existent), she stood by her word. Her threats weren't quite feared, but a deal was struck eventually. Agreeing to cast aside the other mutants in exchange for Msi's continued cooperation, the friends the teenager had made were released back into Paragon after a memory revision of the events that had unfolded.
Life after death is far from unheard of in Paragon. Many revive in their body as if nothing happened. Others somehow obtain new bodies. Some, like Msimacho, are drug back to the land of the living as an angry spirit who otherwise resembles their former self.
Her spirit is bound to the mobile, human-shaped stone often found wandering with her which contains the remains of her body. If this is permanently destroyed through any means, Msimacho would cease to exist, at all, in any realm. At least that's how the story goes. If it's true or not, the stone truly does take the role as a sort of anchor for our realm.
For reasons she has yet to understand herself, not being very educated in magic to begin with, the closer she is to the stone the more human she feels and appears to others. When the stone is at a distance or not in her company at all, she becomes more 'ghostly', fading and reappearing at random.
There have so far been no methods that have effectively detected this curse, not that anyone has thought to look for it. The only thing that may hint at it is that Msimacho does not breath. If this is questioned, she'll insist the individual mentioning it is mistaken and change the subject.
The name "Miamba" is not the true name of the curse and holds no real relevance to it other than it can translate to the word rocks.
Named by combining the last names of the three mages who created, perfected and mastered it, the Conacalela is a powerful curse. But. In order to have it cast to it's full effect, an individual must submit a willingness to it. Though it sounds useless to most, it's popularity among many sort of 'devil deals', so to speak, is quiet but immense.
Under the Concalela a person is unable to say to deny a designated individual. If the order they're given is possible, they listen. As of now, the ritual for the spell is known only by those who have taken part in it, as only the three creators are able to use it properly. A counter to it's effects has yet to be found partially for this reason, and partially because those under it are commanded not to speak of it. It isn't as if they can say no.
There is only one reported case in the history of it's life span (an unknown amount of years) of anyone outside the two (the commander and the cursed person) even being aware it was active, as it can easily and reasonably instead be assumed the person is listening of their own free will out of loyalty or a benefit of some sort.
That aside, Msimacho remains relatively loyal to other associates as well. She is an avid follower of the 'single sheep' rule; she would run right back into a burning building for a single brother in arms left behind even if it risked herself or others in doing so. Her respect and desire to aid life and those who have it may come as surprise to anyone who has only seen her almost eerie level of acceptance of death and heard any harsh words in or out of combat toward others she feels are too arrogant or unsuited for the battle field.
While she won't hesitate to point out flaws much of the time, she prefers to focus on strengths rather than weaknesses, both with others and herself. She will, however, often tell someone to "watch their footing" or note that their posture is poor or they shift balance too much. A somewhat hypocritical commentary for someone suffering everlasting shoulder pain (when they're human enough anyway) as a result of constant tension. Said tension is normally the only sign of frustration detectable.
Along with anger, Msimacho is conditioned to hide any sign of pain or fear. The give away will usually be in the form of shaky footing, notable for someone who normally stands still as a statue at all times. Quiet as one, too. Not due to her nature but because her form of 'sight' takes a large amount of concentration.
Because of her upbringing, she has an almost impulsive desire to help. Her voice can be counted on to speak up in offering to do just that even if it isn't asked of or instructed from her. If brushed off or snapped at, she'll withdraw quickly. Prone to letting feelings linger for longer than most, harsh words from certain people or a broken promise almost always form a grudge of varying degrees.
Msimacho is able to control the Earth; soil, dirt, nearly any variety of stone. Her manipulation, not surprisingly, works best in more natural settings like caves or outdoors. That isn't to say she's rendered useless in other places. In an office building, for example, she's learned to shift most type of floors. This method leaves behind quite a bit of damage. though.
Her feet act as her eyes, thus her vision is all below ground, so to speak. This can be a hindrance in many cases, but helpful for sensing incoming ambushes or traps planted in the ground that may otherwise be missed
Msi is fluent in Swahili and English, and enough French and Portuguese from time she spent being passed around like a hot potato in Mozambique and Comoros to get by. Her accent is a bit thick but easily understandable, mostly effected only by 'th' sounds which are replaced by more 'd', 'da', and 'de' sounding ones..
First and foremost, Msimacho is blind. She does have another form of sight to aid her, but it has as many weak points as strong ones. Much of her movement is assisted with sound, too, and in loud places, especially one full of multiple people talking, make it more difficult to track and follow whoever she's trying to. If for whatever reason her feet aren't on the ground (floor, etc.), she can't 'see' at all. On that same note, if someone hovers, flies or for whatever reason their footsteps or pressure on the ground is undetectable, unless they make a certain amount of noise, she'll have no idea they're present. This has only led to some awkward social situations so far, but runs a high risk of her being taken by surprise in combat.
Bound to her rock-encased remains, if too far from them too long, Msi will become intangible and even fade completely. This has only happened a handful of occurrences and the timespan varies from a few minutes to once an entire three days. Should these remains be destroyed, supposedly she would cease to exist entirely. It's not exactly a theory she wants to test. The danger of the stone being destroyed is equal to that of not taking it along on most missions. It's a lose-lose, in short.
The powers she claims are 'Earth energy' are actually a type of energy that's direct source is the essence of her own spirit. Using any amount of it for a long period of time is incredibly tiring, at the least equal to running a marathon.
Like everyone, some of her flaws lay in that of her personality, not just her skills. Her fear of teleportation, carefully guarded unease at sudden loud noises like gunshots, and hesitance in casual social situations which makes it hard to form bonds and allies (or bonds with allies) are only a few.
- Sudden (or not sudden) invisibility is actually a result of Msi moving too far away from the stone holding her remains. She has very slight control over this 'power', but mostly it takes effect without her blessing. During such times she blames faulty stealth devices. Unfortunately her knowledge of technology is absolutely none past the 'this is suppose to work this way' kind.
- Msi's connection with the ground gives her a better sense of sight than any normal person who would try and 'see' with their feet. She can 'sense' and to an extent outline shapes and tell where pressure is on the ground for an impressive distance, and if it's moving even slightly or not. The pressure someone puts on the ground, and the way they stand or move is the equivalent of looking at someone's face for others. This is why she can often times tell not only when someone is around but who they are. Like with faces, she can also forget them or on rare occasion confuse somebody for another person.
- There are two active curses on Msi, but both are incredibly difficult to notice even for the strongest magic sensors unless you're looking for them in specific. Even then, at most there will be a feeling as if something is out of place. However, those with such heightened senses will easily detect a magic aura around the human-shaped stone that leads or follows her.
- Msi is blind because her eyes are in fact gone. Prior to losing them, she had the sight of an average person and can recall what anything she saw before hand looks like. Verbal imagery does assist her in picturing something, unlike those blind from birth.
- Msi is currently 19. Many assume her to be older (usually in the early twenties) because she's slightly taller than average and her attitude does not at all resemble a good portion of others her age.
