THE MUTANT MENACE:

"So you call us, and so shall we be." The Mutant Menace is a terrorist group dedicated to the violent overthrow of human, patriarchal dominion of the Earth, and the creation of a society where everyone is equal, except that some people will be more equal than others. Its core is two families, with some non-family members who've joined as well.

ERIKA (MAGNUS/LEHNSHERR/ZWIREK) (POLARIS): A Holocaust survivor with awesome control over all forms of electromagnetism, Polaris was once Dr. Xavier's closest friend... but that was many years ago. She is intelligent, powerful, ruthless and utterly dedicated to her goals, to the point where she'd sacrifice her life... or her children's. She believes that the human paradigm of male dominance is an indicator of human lack of evolutionary advancement, and the fact that among mutants, females can be as powerful as males, means that among mutants the sexes are equal, and makes mutants more evolutionarily advanced-- Homo superior, who shall achieve dominion over the Earth and all that walk upon it. Naturally, the only person Polaris trusts to run this brave new world of mutant-controlled utopia is Polaris herself. Probably clinically insane, but who would dare tell her so?

At one point, Erika studied under the High Evolutionary. In addition to the expertise in physics you'd expect with an intelligent person having magnetic powers, Polaris is also knowledgeable about medicine and mutant genetics, and has a "borrowed" cache of High Evolutionary tech. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

RAVEN DARKHOLME (MYSTIQUE): That's probably not his real name, but it's the one he uses. Raven is a shapeshifter, intelligent and cunning, and where Polaris would not know subtlety if it danced up to her singing "Subtle Days Are Here Again", Mystique is an expert on subtlety. Infiltration, espionage, assassination... those are Mystique's bailiwick. He used to have his own mutant terrorist team, consisting of himself, his lover Rene, and the Southerner Jesse Akers (Psychophage). When a mission went seriously rancid, Psychophage was killed and Rene was captured, Raven was forced to indebt himself to his one-time lover Erika to get Rene back, and Polaris called in the debt when she founded the Mutant Menace. Still, it's not a bad deal-- he has to let Polaris think she's running the show, but she's rather easy to manipulate if you know how. And who knows but that he, or his lover, or their foster son Rogue, might not someday need Polaris' knowhow and access to the High Evolutionary's tech? Adaptor: Alara Rogers

RENE ADLER (DESTINY): Raven's long-term lover of many decades (even during the time when Raven was off giving birth in female form, or having sex with Erika... long story.) Destiny is a powerful precog. Unfortunately, his calm and wise words of forewarning frequently fall on deaf ears, as rule no. 1 is that Polaris is always right, and whenever she's wrong, see rule no. 1. He's an old man, but still participates in battle. He's also very close to Rogue, Psychophage's son that Raven adopted after their teammate's death, although Rogue thinks of Mystique as his father. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

JASMINE WYNGARDE (DREAMWEAVER): That is *definitely* not her real name. Jasmine appears different in every battle-- sometimes a buxom blonde, sometimes a slim redhead, or a delicate Asian, or an athletic African beauty-- always gorgeous, unless you manage to knock her out, at which point she appears as a fat middle-aged woman with lank, greasy brown hair that she doesn't wash much, and a bad smell. Dreamweaver is an illusionist, and a very good one, who can engage all your senses in an incredibly believable illusion. She was a con artist and occasional prostitute when Raven found her and recruited her for Polaris. Now she's loyal, although pretty cowardly. Enjoys inventive illusions, wacky cover stories, getting people to believe the truly improbable and other "artistic" expansions on her native gifts. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

BERTHA TOYNBEE (LEAPER): Could someone please give me a better name for her? Polaris is not cruel enough to name such an ugly and damaged young woman the Toad, but that's *exactly* what she looks like. She's fat, has enormously strong but spindly-looking legs, a rather deformed face, a severe need of braces, and acne that makes her face look like 12 miles of bad road. She's also highly intelligent, but you'd never know it to listen to her, as her talents lie squarely in the Geekish Realm of Techie Stuff. As no one else in the Menace has the slightest interest in techie stuff, Polaris values her as a backup repairer-of-things-when-Polaris-is- busy and someone to talk shop to. Polaris is usually quite gentle with the damaged young woman, who worships the water she thinks Polaris walks on, but occasionally her insecurity and frequent incompetence cause Polaris to blow up at her, which usually leads her to hide and whimper about how much she's sorry and how if Polaris would only give her another chance she would never fail her again, rather loudly. Is generally sadistic toward men, especially young attractive men. As long as she doesn't touch Pietro or Rogue, Polaris turns a blind eye toward Leaper's activities. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

WANDA MAGNUS (QUICKSILVER): Her hair color wasn't the only thing young Wanda inherited from her mother. She's violent, impetuous and arrogant, and totally subscribes to her mother's beliefs. She also lovingly dominates her twin brother entirely, protecting him, sheltering him, speaking for him, and basically acting like she thinks he couldn't find his butt with two hands and a road map were she not there to point the way. But Wanda's not a killer. She's been indoctrinated to believe that humans are lesser beings, but has had enough exposure to them to think that means that they should protect them-- though, following her mother's paradigm, "protect" means rule over to save from themselves. Despite-- or perhaps because-- of her many points of similarity to her mother, Wanda is in constant conflict with her. An outsider might wonder if they love each other at all, especially when Erika throws large, heavy metal implements at Wanda and Wanda responds by dodging and smacking Erika's legs out from under her with a bamboo stick moved at super-speed. The Menace have seen this particular violent scene play out often enough to know that neither of them are *really* going to hurt the other. Much. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

PIETRO MAGNUS (WIZARD): The ugly duckling of the family. He looks just like his father, which is the problem. Wanda loves him extravagantly, but Erika has been cold to him for much of his life, and he's been taught to believe that his entire sex is composed of horrible people, which makes him very insecure. This does him no good when trying to control his probability powers, and when he screws up, which is all the time, Erika just looks at him as if she *knew* he was going to screw up because he's a boy and he's worthless. He lets Wanda run his life for him because she's the only person he's sure loves him, even if he *is* worthless. He suffers suicidal ideations, a lot. Pietro hasn't a clue that the real problem is not who he is, but who he looks like, and Erika is unable to tell him or even to articulate what the problem is, and probably lacks enough objectivity to realize there *is* a problem. Rene has taken the young man under his wing, sheltering him and giving him advice, but there's only so much damage Rene can undo while Pietro is living under Erika's roof. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

ROGUE: Goes only by that name. Son of Jesse Akers, aka Psychophage, who never trusted Mystique quite enough to let him have his son's real name. Besides, Psychophage kidnapped Rogue from his mother in a custody-dispute-gone-wrong many years ago, and Rogue very likely has been using one pseudonym or another since; as far as he's concerned Rogue is his real name. He knows he's going to be a powerful mutant, but he doesn't know what kind yet. He's curious about everything, and hotheaded, and stubborn, and he'll stand up to anyone, including Polaris, who won't actually hit a child who isn't her own-- and Rogue knows it. So he gets away with anything, as long as Raven doesn't sit on him. Is still at the age where girls are largely icky. He looks up to Pietro as the only remotely older brotherish figure he has, which may help develop Pietro's confidence. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

THE SISTERHOOD OF EVIL MUTANTS:

A team led by Polaris after her children defected and Mystique took over the Mutant Menace.

FRIEDA DUKES (PILLAR): Better code name suggestions are welcomed. Frieda didn't even know she was a mutant. Sure, people had a hard time shoving her out of the way when she was standing somewhere, but she put that down to her size. And she was glad. About the only benefit she got out of being as fat as she was was that people couldn't mow her down. But it never struck her that it was anything unusual, until one day she was crossing the street in a big city, late at night, and a drunk driver barreled down on her and couldn't get out of the way. Frieda doesn't move fast. The car hit, and was totaled. Frieda's dress was wrecked, but there wasn't a scratch on her person.

Both Polaris and Xavier heard about this and tried to recruit the young woman. Carolyn got there first, but Frieda laughed in her face. Use her powers to help humanity? What the hell had humanity ever done for her, except laugh at her for being fat and tell her she had no self control?

She liked Polaris' spiel a lot better. Not that she gave a good goddamn about the fate of mutantkind, either. But Polaris was ranting about how mutant women were oppressed doubly, first by humanity and then by men, and how when she took the reins of power she would not trust men, easily swayed by their lusts as they were, to run things for her. Which meant Polaris was looking for women to run things for her. Frieda Dukes, Governor of South America. Yeah, she kind of liked the sound of something like that. And if she got to stick it to the men who'd laughed at her and told her bluntly that if she didn't have sex with them they wouldn't even *look* at her and treated her like crap all her life, so much the better. Not that Frieda liked women much better, particularly not the pretty ones who snickered at her and lorded it over her. But Polaris was an old woman. Not like *she* was gonna be stealing the guys Frieda was interested in.

Frieda joins Polaris' second organization (which, since Mystique was by then leader of the Mutant Menace, Polaris would probably have named something else. I *am* kind of leaning toward Sisterhood of Evil Mutants, as after Mystique kicked her out of the Menace Polaris got even more pissed off with men in general, and all the characters I'm thinking might join happen to be women.) But, eventually, Polaris' general nutso behavior around this time will probably piss Frieda off (as will Polaris' food issues), and sooner or later she's likely to split. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

SYLVIE DROSSELMEIER (META): This character is technically based on Changeling. However, as I have not read anything withh Changeling in it, except for his death and he was impersonating Xavier then, and I *have* read AOA Morph, and they are supposed to be the same character, I am basing Sylvie off Morph but with Changeling's history.

Meta is a shapechanger, much more fun-loving and silly than Mystique. She was a con artist, but more the type to sell land in Florida than the type to make old men love her and give her all their money. (Although, dating rich old guys for their money *was* fun, but Meta wasn't a fundamentally evil person-- she wouldn't drain them dry and she'd break up with them easy.) She was also a thief, for thrills and for cash. She got recruited by the criminal organization Factor Three, and ran around with them for a while. Then she discovered she had terminal cancer.

In the MU, when Changeling discovered this, it sobered him up and made him rethink his whole life, because he couldn't find any way to get a cure, and he ended up going to Xavier and asking to do something to make up for his crimes. Meta from XXY, however, had another option. Unlike MU-Magneto, who's primarily a physicist who dabbles in biosciences, Polaris is a bioscientist who dabbles in physics. And Polaris' medical knowledge is as well-known in the early days of the XXY Universe as, later, Sinister's much greater knowledge would be. So instead of going to Xavier to atone, Meta went to Polaris to ask for a cure.

Cured, she joined Polaris's second organization. But, well, imagine AOA Morph dealing with MU psycho-Magneto, and you can see where this is going. Sylvie is a light-hearted, fun-loving person, a practical joker (though not as egregious as Sidney was-- women don't tend to be as into practical jokes as men are), and would try to get her teammates to lighten up. You can see how well this is going to work with Polaris. :-) Adaptor: Alara Rogers

LORELEI: When Polaris created the Savage Land Mutates, she was interested in creating weapons to use against the Mutant Menace for betraying her, X-Factor for opposing her, and Pietro and Wanda for leaving her. Most of them, she deemed useless. But Lorelei was her crowning achievement-- a young woman whose power was to enslave men with her voice. In MU, Lorelei was used by Magneto to enthrall his opponents the X-Men, and when Jean Grey wasn't affected he tried to kill her. In XXY, Polaris is well aware that Lorelei is only useful against a small number of X-Factor-- but one of them is the powerhouse telekinetic, who can be enslaved into holding the rest prisoner, and one of them is her son, who has to be brainwashed into coming back to her service, of course. (Oh, and I don't think Lorne will be there, but the fact that Lorelei is an effective weapon against the most effective weapon against Polaris herself was a plus.) She can also be used against Mystique and his paramour (not that she's going to be-- Mystique is way too smart to let Polaris find him, but this is Polaris' thought.) So she never abandons Lorelei when the rest of the Savage Land Mutates get abandoned. Instead, she takes the girl under her wing, treating her as an honorary daughter.

Lorelei is not smart. She wasn't designed to be. In fact she's probably retarded, with the emotional/mental age of a small child. She's loving, and gentle, and hypersexed, and well aware of her power over men. She doesn't understand right from wrong, and will coerce men into sex without any thought that this might hurt them-- after all, men like sex, so how is this bad? Polaris will sit on her if she tries with Pietro but will probably completely ignore Lorelei if she tries to rape John Grey or Lorne. Lorelei worships Polaris, and will become her new sidekick, a la Leaper, but her innocence will probably save her from getting beaten up a lot like Leaper did. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

THE HELLFIRE CLUB:

EMMETT FROST (THE WHITE QUEEN): Emmett Frost grew up in a family from "the wrong side of the tracks". He was a shy boy until he was about ten. That's when he became a "Miss Amanda Jones" type, and gave in to his jealousy of the kids who had it better, and faked himself being better off than he really was. Petty theft and the occasional odd job kept him up with the wealthier kids -- barely. He was a smart, charismatic boy, for all that he was poor white trash (so to speak). He managed this way well enough, doing odd jobs for bigger kids, until he was 13, and his telepathy kicked in. The voices in his head were too much for him -- and his parents -- to cope with. They kicked him out and he ended up homeless. He began turning tricks, once the initial insurgence of psionic input settled down. That's when he realized some of the people he was with had power and influence.

This is where he got the idea to dress in drag and sleep with straight men as well as homosexual ones -- using his psionic abilities to make them believe the sex had been great. Once turning 17, he turned his back on "the oldest profession" entirely, and set his attention toward parlaying all his illicitly-gleaned knowledge toward becoming wealthy and powerful. When he got wind of Sibyl Shaw's Inner Circle, he decided he had to be a part of this. Choosing instead his feminine persona, Emmett created Emma Frost, the ice princess. She became the White Queen, only revealing his true nature to Sibyl when he decided he wanted her. Sibyl is the only one who knows the truth about Emma/Emmett -- and it's a lovely little lever in their power struggle. To everyone else, Emmett and Emma are passed off as brother and sister. Adaptor: Rivka Jacobs (writeup by Indigo)

SIBYL SHAW (THE BLACK QUEEN): Was tormented by other girls as a child, and learned endurance. Then she got her powers, and learned to fight back. By the time she was an adult, Sibyl was well used to fighting for what she wanted. She took over her father's company and made it into a corporate leviathan. Edward Buchanan (the White King) invited her to join the Hellfire Club, then tried to oust her and her mutant friends when he discovered she was a mutant; but she held onto her power, and before long, most of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club consisted of mutants. Adaptor: Rivka Jacobs (writeup by Indigo)

THOMAS: Little is known about Sibyl's combination chauffeur/administrative assistant/lover, except that he wishes Sibyl to succeed because his own fate is tied to hers. As a result of this, Thomas resents Sibyl's affair with Emmett Frost. Adaptor: Indigo

THANATOS (BLACK KING): An ancient mutant who was born in prehistoric times, the true name of Thanatos is lost to the mists of time, forgotten even by himself. He dates at least as far back as to the Hyborean age, where he is known to have had some dealings with the sorceror Kulan Gath. As millennia passed, he became interested in the Northern Mediterranean cultures, in particular the Grecoroman cultures who were experiencing a golden age. He decided to use his vast powers to present himself as a deity, adopting the identity of the God of Death, and took up the name of Thanatos. Pride went before fall, though, as usual. Growing discontent to be just a 'human' while the other deities being worshipped hailed from the dimension of Olympus, Thanatos stormed Olympus and demanded 'citizenship', and being included among the affairs of the Olympians as a native of that dimension. His powers, though immense, proved inferior to those of Zeus, who harshly cast Thanatos back to Earth, and deprived Thanatos of a great amount of his powers. Furthermore, Zeus ruled that one who had sought to distance himself from humans and presume himself an equal to the Olympians, should spend countless lifetimes as a human as fit punishment. Zeus wiped Thanatos' memories of his past life, and ruled that Thanatos' next son would grow up to be a perfect copy of Thanatos. And the first son of that son would grow up to be another perfect copy. And the first son of that grandson would become yet another copy, and so on, Thanatos' genetic code and buried memories would pass down from generation to generation.

Thanatos' line then ended up journeying to South America along with a group of other Roman colonists who set up the Roman-Incan settlement of Nova Roma. Over the centuries, Thanatos' bloodline achieved great influence in Nova Roma, and some historical curiosity was provided by how the firstborns of the bloodline always seemed to resemble the parent. Thanatos, a brilliant politician, turned this to his advantage, claiming it to be a gift from the gods who favored him. He became the First Senator of Nova Roma, the Black Priest of the Cult of Fire, and much much more. And this would be the key to restoring him to his previous stature, as one of the Thanatoses eventually ended up studying up on sorcery sufficiently to be able to break Zeus' spell, and return to himself all his pre-Zeus memories. Now, aware of what Zeus had did, he was enraged -- and he was also annoyed that his father was a 'copy' of himself. He slew his father, and from then on also gained an obsession to kill any woman he had sexual intercourse with, to prevent the possibility of any other copies of himself ever coming to life again. He often used the life forces of these unfortunate women as fuel to keep himself looking young.

In the 20th century, the Brazilian explorer and archaeologist Nina Da Costa found Nova Roma, and the Hellfire Club agents in her party disposed of her, and cut a deal with Thanatos, who was in charge of Nova Roma at the time -- the Hellfire Club would get access to the mineral resources of Nova Roma, and in exchange Thanatos would claim the seat of the Black King in the Hellfire Club. This, indeed, happened, bringing great tensions into the Hellfire Club, where Thanatos throws his pompous weight around with little subtlety. Thanatos' main difference to his 616 counterpart is that as a male, he was not prohibited from being a political figurehead, and resultantly will not be content with playing the 'woman behind the man', but is more pompous, straightforward and arrogant than a subtle manipulator. Adaptor: Samy Merchi.

EMMANUEL DA COSTA (WHITE ROOK): Emmanuel Da Costa is one of Brazil's richest and most influential men today, after having worked his way up from poverty with brilliance, ruthlessness and perseverance. He is married to the archaeologist and explorer Nina Da Costa, and by her has a daughter Barbara. A longtime acquaintance, business partner, and occasional lover of Sibyl Shaw, he and Donald Pierce were the two non-mutant members of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club who turned to Sibyl Shaw's side when she led the mutants of the Inner Circle against Edward Buckman, the then-ruler of the Inner Circle. Resultantly, Emmanuel and Donald, despite not being mutants, remain in Sibyl's Inner Circle to this day. The most obvious -- and almost the only -- difference between him and his 616 counterpart is that since he had no son to spend time with, he has spent more time on his business pursuits, untempered by love for his offspring -- resultantly he is colder, more ruthless, more driven and even more influential than his 616 counterpart. Adaptor: Samy Merchi.

DONALD PIERCE (WHITE BISHOP): A wealthy mining magnate, Donald Pierce possesses superb knowledge in electronics, more specifically cybernetics and bionics. In his desires to be superior to everyone, he not only became a member of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, but also had parts of himself replaced with bionics of his own design, turning himself into a cyborg. Pierce resents and despises mutants but despite this, helped Sibyl Shaw gain control of the Hellfire Club during her coup, because he saw who would win the conflict, and did not intend to be on the losing side. However, the fact that the Inner Circle is now almost exclusively mutant has only spurred on his desires to rule the Circle himself, and kick the mutants out -- or even better, kill them. His main difference to his 616 counterpart is that due to the influence of Sibyl Shaw, he takes women much more seriously as enemies, and does not dismiss them as serious foes -- however, he is still chauvinistic enough to *act* as if he ignored females, but this is often a facade. Adaptor: Samy Merchi.

HARRIET LELAND (BLACK BISHOP): A lawyer by trade, Harriet Leland never really saw her mutant powers of controlling gravity as much more than a little trick. The true power was money. Political, financial power. And that is what she worked her way up towards, but with little success, until she became involved with the Hellfire Club. She saw an opening in the little cabal intending to subtly take over the world, and for once, she found her mutant abilities useful as they helped her secure a place within the ranks of the Inner Circle, where she now dwells, post-menopausal and having little ambition to better her position, but just being content with her little corner of the world which she can use to secure a good life for herself and her son, Harry Leland. Unlike her 616 counterpart, she has something to actually watch over -- her son -- and takes much less risks, playing the careful planner, overly-cautious diplomat and devil's advocate to the Lords' Cardinal. Adaptor: Samy Merchi.

THE MUTANT LIBERATION FRONT:

CANDRA CORTEZ: Candra Cortez is the eldest child of Hernan Cortez, and can trace her family line back for centuries, back to people such as the famous Spanish conquistador leader, also named Hernan Cortez, and even further. The Cortezes are one of the most important families in Spain and have maintained that status thru ruthless methods employed by Hernan, including bringing complete and utter ruin to the formerly so impressive family of de la Rocha when the members of that family dissatisfied Hernan. Candra was always the perfect pupil following her father, but because she was female, was never paid much importance by her father Hernan who preferred to concentrate on his other child, the male Jose Maria who always received Hernan's love, doting and attention. This fostered a great amount of bitterness in Candra, who ended up developing a psychological defense mechanism of convincing herself that she needed no one's love, and that 'love' was something only desired, given, or received, by fools.

Now having abandoned one of the two things human beings strive for, she concentrated on pursuing the other -- power. In her mid-teens she discovered two things about herself. First, and less important, she found that she was a mutant, but as her superhuman ability of boosting or dampening other mutants' powers was only effective on other mutants, she found it all but useless, and instead toyed around with the other discovery about herself -- that she was a natural leader. Not so much as a tactician, perhaps, but her innate charisma was on par with individuals like Hitler or Martin Luther King. Indeed, there were few people whom she was unable to persuade to follow her. And she relished this, knowing that even though her father would one day leave the family's holdings to Jose Maria, they would practically be at Candra's beck and call, because she held her weak-willed brother under all but complete control.

And so, she decided over the years, would she one day hold everyone who beheld her, and demonstrate that she is not weak just because she is a woman. She despises women who play the 'weak' part, allow themselves to be dominated by their husbands, and use feminine wiles such as seduction to get to their ends. Indeed, Candra has much masculinity in her, and she does not refrain from talking back to men nor does she conform to many traditional 'expectations' demanded of a woman in such a conservative country as Spain. She *does* refrain from things such as brawls -- but not because she's a woman, but rather, because she is nobility, and things like that are beneath her status...unless they are duels, of course. Adaptor: Samy Merchi.

JOSE MARIA CORTEZ: Jose Maria Cortez is the younger Cortez sibling, the younger brother of Candra Cortez, and since he was male, he received the love and attention of their father Hernan Cortez. He was made weak, pampered, and his father was always making Jose Maria into an image of himself, an image into which Jose Maria was easy to mold -- perhaps because of a natural inclination towards submissiveness, or perhaps Hernan's overbearing manner browbeat him into never disobeying. Resultantly, Jose Maria is largely incapable of thinking for himself or making any decisions, but rather, he has always been told what to do, and he is good at following these orders. He looks up to both his father Hernan and his sister Candra, following their words as if they were God himself. When he, in his teens, discovered his powers to boost or dampen the activity of the human nervous system, Hernan decided it was a thing which could turn public opinion against Jose Maria when he ran the family, and that it had to be kept a secret never to be leaked out, and so, Jose Maria was ordered to keep his powers always under wraps and never exercise them. Which he, of course, complied with. Jose Maria is very much of a directionless sycophant, and does not know what to do with his life, nor would he probably even be able to succeed very well on his own, without the resources of his family, as he simply lacks the initiative to actually do anything for himself without being told to do so. Adaptor: Samy Merchi.

SIMON BLAZE: "He's so stupid he was born blond, and he still bleached his hair." Simon is the ultimate male bimbo. Born and raised in California, he was a jock, bully and surfer dude who paid little attention to school other than where the nearest cheerleader sluts were. In the first half of his teens, he probably managed to drink and sniff away half of his brain cells. The remaining one wasn't sufficient to keep him from going into the juvie slammer for rape and murder. He lingered there for months, until his mutant powers manifested during a moment of extreme duress -- about a minute after he dropped his soap in the shower. Using his awesome electromagnetic powers, he easily escaped the prison, and returned to his old stomping grounds in Los Angeles. He didn't exactly keep a low profile, and a group of Vault Guardsmen was sent out to apprehend him. The Guardsmen surprised him with his pants down (literally) and when Blaze attempted to flee justice, he flew right thru a vehicle which, in an explosive interaction with his crackling energies, turned out to be a fuel truck. He was treated in an intensive care unit at the Vault for the next two months. Not long after he had mostly recovered, he was broken out of the vault by Candra Cortez and her accomplices, who enlisted Blaze's help in a plot of theirs. Adaptor: Samy Merchi.

OTHER BAD GUYS:

TIAMAT: An ancient, immortal mutant who has named herself for the Babylonian goddess of creation and destruction, Tiamat, Mother of Dragons. Tiamat wishes to see life on Earth grow stronger through conflict. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

NATHANIEL ESSEX (MR. SINISTER): A Victorian scientist who was offered power and knowledge by Tiamat, at the price, perhaps, of his soul. Has many dark deeds to his name in the pursuit of his goals. Was involved with the childhoods, births, or conceptions of both Summers girls, John Grey, and Lorne Dane. Has also had dealings with Polaris, which she very likely doesn't remember, largely because he wiped them from her mind. If she ever does remember, however, Sinister will be no. 1 on her list of people to destroy... so it's in his interest not to jog her memory, as she would make a formidable foe, even for him. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

VICTORIA CREED (BITCH): Like her male counterpart, she is a Canadian who became involved in international espionage, originally came from the gutter (probably), and is possessed of an unquenchable bloodlust. However, being a female spy, especially in wartime, is a lot different to being a male spy. Victoria had to be a lot more Mata Hari-esque to get ahead. She may be a wonderfully gifted murderer, and utterly devoid of compassion, but she's also a gifted socialite, a marvellous sophisticate. She had to be sexual as well as violent. Not that she wasn't as violent as all hell, but you get the point, yes? I want to make a departure from the simply savage Victor Creed. He was the worst of masculinity taken to the extreme. She is the worst of femininity taken even further. She can still get blood on her hands, though. In fact, she looks forward to it. She isn't the least bit stable.

Victoria Creed is tall and lean, with an excellent body. She has golden blonde hair and mad eyes, and wears very form-fitting and exquisite outfits. She does have very sharp, tough nails, which she paints, and a healing factor of course, but her teeth, whilst sharp, are not jagged. She's not at all afraid to get herself dirty, and will face anyone in a fight, and usually win. She is a horrible, wicked bitch, more like a gold-digger than a femme fatale, though she isn't in the killing business because she wants the money. Think the Famke Janssen character in GoldenEye, but with a wider vocabulary. Oh, and she almost always wears fur coats. Real fur, mind. Adaptor: Andrew Wheeler

KATHERINE R. CHESS (FADEAWAY): Fadeaway is much less of a public figure than is the Vanisher. She also has more hair. She once was involved with the Grey Fox (is that his name?), the aged jewel thief from _Spider-Man_ - or so she claims. She also claims, however, to have stolen the Eye of Agamotto from Doctor Strange. (Where is it now? Well, she... er... she returned it.) Fadeaway could probably be a much more successful thief if she actually worked at it. As it is, she coasts on her reputation, since most people don't realize she's a teleporter, which makes her feats look all the more impressive. Adaptor: Danny Sichel

CAIN MARKO (JUGGERNAUT): Cain was the only son of nuclear researcher Kurt Marko, and a woman who committed suicide when Cain was 10, thus beginning a pattern of women "abandoning" him in his life. He was 13 when his father remarried, to Sharon Xavier, and he never got along well with his step-sister Carolyn. When he was 17, however, their relationship became irrevocably one of enmity when his father died in Carolyn's bedroom, of a brain hemorrhage, and he was convinced Carolyn had done it with the mental powers he knew she had. He threatened to kill Carolyn, so Carolyn had her boyfriend Mike McCormick beat him up and her mother throw him out of the house with a restraining order; he joined the army and went to Korea, only to be followed there by Mike McCormick, and through him, the intrusive telepathic presence of his hated stepsister. When he went AWOL and found the gem of Cytorrak, it was McCormick who tried to stop him from taking it, but it was Carolyn he blamed for leaving him to die-- she was a telepath, and he thought she should have known he was still alive in there. So when he dug himself out he set off to kill Carolyn, and anyone else who got in his way. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

TAMARA "WILD TAM" CASSIDY: Cousin of Shauna Cassidy, but was raised with her cousin as if they were sisters. She became a thief and assassin, until her cousin turned her over to the authorities, whereafter she was rescued by Cain Marko, the Juggernaut. The two became lovers, mutually obsessed with destroying their relatives-- Cain's stepsister Carolyn Xavier and Wild Tam's cousin Banshee. Adaptor: Rivka Jacobs.

MONET ST. CROIX (EMPLATE): The eldest St. Croix sibling, Monet was one of those people to whom everything seemed to be easy. She did well in school, never lacked for a date when she wanted one, was surrounded by male admirers and was never short of money. Until the fateful day in her late teens, when her mutant ability manifested, changing her life forever. She turned into a grotesque, spike-haired monster whose sole joy in life was supping on other mutants, feasting on their genetic marrow and killing them. Realizing that her siblings were mutants as well, she ran away from home, fearing that if she did not, her hunger would one day overcome her and force her to feast on her own siblings. She now wanders the planet, making food out of whatever luckless mutants cross her path -- because that is the only way she can survive. Adaptor: Samy Merchi.

"PAPA": A brilliant scientist with low-powered mutant mind control powers. Also a pedophile. He lost his little girl (the swap of MU-Nanny's mutant son) in a custody battle with his wife. Being accused of abusing his daughter destroyed his career. Shortly afterward his wife and his daughter were murdered by the hate group the Right, and his mind snapped under the strain. He believed that he should have been there to protect them, that they never should have left them, and that it was up to him to protect mutant women/mutant girls from these hate groups. He decided to use the process he was working on, which reverses the aging process, on adult mutant women he'd captured, reducing them to little girls, so he could keep them safe. And so he could have sexual access to them, though he doesn't let himself acknowledge that as his reason-- he's in massive denial about his own pedophilia, and is convinced that what he's doing with his victims is okay because they're *really* adult women and they like it.

Papa does not go about in a cybernetic egg, nor does he orphan children so that he can kidnap them. He never kidnapped and orphaned the XXY version of Orphan Maker, so presumably that character is still living peacefully with her parents. What he does do is attack adult (generally elderly or middle-aged) mutant women with "pixie dust", which lowers their resistance to his mind control powers, take them captive, de-age them, and suppress their memories of their adult lives. (They usually do have access to their own childhood memories, but hazily.) He then tells them that their parents are dead (since they are elderly and middle-aged, this is usually true) and that he is their only protector. Adaptor: Alara Rogers

BEATRICE D'AVIGNON: Beatrice was the daughter of Tiamat and a 12th-century Crusader who happened to be a mutant, as the result of his mother's exposure to a radioactive cave. Although her father was disposed of by Tiamat, the father's twin brother was also a mutant, a precog. He rescued Beatrice from her mother (in the process getting all the rest of Tiamat's creche for that generation killed) and raised her to be deeply religious.

A privation diet and intense religious meditation gave Beatrice early access to her telepathy but no access to her greater powers until later. She was the betrothed of Eobar Garrington, ancestor of the Black Knight, until she called off the wedding to join a convent; because Dane Whitman has acquired the memories of his ancestor through magic, he is familiar with Beatrice. Though she attempted to devote herself to religious contemplation, Tiamat found her and persuaded her to journey to Akkaba, there to realize her full power. She was tempted by Tiamat's offer of power, but through the actions of that time period's incarnation of the sorceror Marduk and her love Eobar, she was turned against Tiamat. Tiamat defeated her in battle and placed her in suspended animation.

When she is awakened by Lorne Dane and a team of archaeologists, she will turn to Lorne at first for information about this new world she finds herself in, and will probably glom onto him with a good bit of hero worship and some repressed lust. When she finds out that the world is a terribly secular place, there's a pagan god claiming to be a hero, the Jews have taken the Holy Land and the Catholic Church is no longer the only sect professing to follow Christ, she's going to get very upset and go on a religious crusade, likely after trashing but not killing Lorne. She will never have any association with Polaris in this universe; her religious fanaticism will bring her into conflict with just about everybody. She's godawfully powerful, none too bright, and a 12th-century religious fanatic. The current Marduk will probably remember her after he gets his own head on straight. Sinister is also aware of her existence. Cord will try to kill her. Tiamat wants to recruit her, but her telepathic shields are strong enough to make brute force mind control impossible. Adaptor: Alara Rogers