Post by Jordanna on Dec 9, 2005 23:23:15 GMT -5
Character's Name: Doctor Miriam Van Linden.
Mutant Nickname: Nephthys (after an Egyptian goddess of funerals and the dead). Also referred to at times as "Doc".
Mutant Power: When Miriam comes near a corpse that is recently deceased (i.e. within a week or so), she is able to experience the last memories of that person. After being wounded in an attempt on her life, she also developed the ability to absorb residual energy from the dead. Her body uses this energy to heal injuries rapidly and enhance her stamina.
Occupation: Formerly an assistant medical examiner; now a fugitive, framed for murder by Nocturne, and working secretly at the core of a group opposed to the mutant mafia.
Gender: Female.
Age: Thirty-two.
Height: 5' 2".
Hair Color: Auburn.
Eye Color: Green.
Physical Description: Small, slim, and modestly pretty. Always wears a necklace with a gold ankh pendant. There is a melancholy demeanor about her, and she does not often smile.
Country/Hometown: Leavenworth, Kansas, USA.
Immediate Family: Parents Thomas and Irene, now residing somewhere in England under false identities.
Personality: Having literally experienced death countless times, Miriam is a quiet, serious, pensive young woman. She is independent, headstrong, and cautious in trusting others. At heart she cares for people, but she has learned to put up a firm, businesslike exterior to protect herself. Her strong organizational skills and sheer determination give her a natural sense of leadership, although she is hesitant to take that role. She is continually driven to hold everyone else together, even when she herself is on the verge of falling apart. She will work to the point of exhaustion for something she believes in.
Weaknesses: She can only read a dead person's memories once, so if she isn't mentally prepared for it, she may miss important details. The energy she absorbs from the dead can cause her to suffer insomnia. She can be influenced emotionally by her perceptions; particularly traumatic ones may even tire her physically. She is overly stubborn at times. The emotional effect of experiencing others' deaths makes her particularly unwilling to kill, and it is possible that she could freeze up in a fight. She has a fear of going near graveyards, which is not unjustified, as it might result in multiple visions that could temporarily incapacitate her.
Additional Skills: As a trained forensic pathologist, Miriam is well educated in human physiology, and is capable of providing limited medical aid.
Hobbies/Interests: Miriam's unique awareness of mortality has always made it difficult for her to be close to people. Even before she became a fugitive, she had virtually no social life outside of her friendship with Henry Casselton. She has always been devoted to her work, and now that work is the fight against Nocturne.
Personal History: Miriam had a quite ordinary middle-class childhood; her mother was a homemaker, and her father was a contractor who worked for the Army at Fort Leavenworth. Her mutation manifested at age thirteen, when she discovered the body of a murdered woman on the bank of a creek where she often played. This first encounter with her power was put down to fright and shock, but at the funeral of her grandfather two years later, she was severely traumatized by multiple visions in the cemetery. Although she did not acknowledge it to anyone else, she accepted then that her ability was no figment of her imagination.
Miriam felt she had been given her dubious gift for a purpose, and decided to use it to bring murderers to justice, even though it is invariably painful for her. She devoted herself to a career in forensics, eventually becoming an assistant medical examiner in New York. Although anti-mutant prejudice forced her to keep her power a secret, she did what she could to guide bereaved families and the authorities to the murderers she uncovered, even if she had no medical proof.
When a vision led Miriam to the discovery that mutant philanthropist Nicholas Tiernan was a killer, she sought the help of detective Regina Dawson, triggering a chain of events that would bring together an opposition movement against Nocturne. Fearing what she knew about him, Nocturne had her discredited at the medical examiner's office, then attempted to have her murdered--but Miriam killed her would-be assassin in self-defense. Framed for the murder of the hired killer, and hunted by both Nocturne and the police, she sought refuge with her new allies in the slowly organizing resistance.
Anything else:
Miriam was given both her nickname and her ankh pendant by her friend Henry Casselton. She views him as a father figure, unaware that he is in love with her.
Mutant Nickname: Nephthys (after an Egyptian goddess of funerals and the dead). Also referred to at times as "Doc".
Mutant Power: When Miriam comes near a corpse that is recently deceased (i.e. within a week or so), she is able to experience the last memories of that person. After being wounded in an attempt on her life, she also developed the ability to absorb residual energy from the dead. Her body uses this energy to heal injuries rapidly and enhance her stamina.
Occupation: Formerly an assistant medical examiner; now a fugitive, framed for murder by Nocturne, and working secretly at the core of a group opposed to the mutant mafia.
Gender: Female.
Age: Thirty-two.
Height: 5' 2".
Hair Color: Auburn.
Eye Color: Green.
Physical Description: Small, slim, and modestly pretty. Always wears a necklace with a gold ankh pendant. There is a melancholy demeanor about her, and she does not often smile.
Country/Hometown: Leavenworth, Kansas, USA.
Immediate Family: Parents Thomas and Irene, now residing somewhere in England under false identities.
Personality: Having literally experienced death countless times, Miriam is a quiet, serious, pensive young woman. She is independent, headstrong, and cautious in trusting others. At heart she cares for people, but she has learned to put up a firm, businesslike exterior to protect herself. Her strong organizational skills and sheer determination give her a natural sense of leadership, although she is hesitant to take that role. She is continually driven to hold everyone else together, even when she herself is on the verge of falling apart. She will work to the point of exhaustion for something she believes in.
Weaknesses: She can only read a dead person's memories once, so if she isn't mentally prepared for it, she may miss important details. The energy she absorbs from the dead can cause her to suffer insomnia. She can be influenced emotionally by her perceptions; particularly traumatic ones may even tire her physically. She is overly stubborn at times. The emotional effect of experiencing others' deaths makes her particularly unwilling to kill, and it is possible that she could freeze up in a fight. She has a fear of going near graveyards, which is not unjustified, as it might result in multiple visions that could temporarily incapacitate her.
Additional Skills: As a trained forensic pathologist, Miriam is well educated in human physiology, and is capable of providing limited medical aid.
Hobbies/Interests: Miriam's unique awareness of mortality has always made it difficult for her to be close to people. Even before she became a fugitive, she had virtually no social life outside of her friendship with Henry Casselton. She has always been devoted to her work, and now that work is the fight against Nocturne.
Personal History: Miriam had a quite ordinary middle-class childhood; her mother was a homemaker, and her father was a contractor who worked for the Army at Fort Leavenworth. Her mutation manifested at age thirteen, when she discovered the body of a murdered woman on the bank of a creek where she often played. This first encounter with her power was put down to fright and shock, but at the funeral of her grandfather two years later, she was severely traumatized by multiple visions in the cemetery. Although she did not acknowledge it to anyone else, she accepted then that her ability was no figment of her imagination.
Miriam felt she had been given her dubious gift for a purpose, and decided to use it to bring murderers to justice, even though it is invariably painful for her. She devoted herself to a career in forensics, eventually becoming an assistant medical examiner in New York. Although anti-mutant prejudice forced her to keep her power a secret, she did what she could to guide bereaved families and the authorities to the murderers she uncovered, even if she had no medical proof.
When a vision led Miriam to the discovery that mutant philanthropist Nicholas Tiernan was a killer, she sought the help of detective Regina Dawson, triggering a chain of events that would bring together an opposition movement against Nocturne. Fearing what she knew about him, Nocturne had her discredited at the medical examiner's office, then attempted to have her murdered--but Miriam killed her would-be assassin in self-defense. Framed for the murder of the hired killer, and hunted by both Nocturne and the police, she sought refuge with her new allies in the slowly organizing resistance.
Anything else:
Miriam was given both her nickname and her ankh pendant by her friend Henry Casselton. She views him as a father figure, unaware that he is in love with her.