Post by scarletwitch on Nov 18, 2006 20:50:45 GMT -5
Name: Wanda Lensherr Maximoff
Codename(s): The Scarlet Witch
Affiliation: Unaffiliated
Age: 33
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 170
Hair Color: Red
Eye Color: Blue
Appearance: A tall, broad shouldered figure like her father, she is a formidable presence in spite of the graceful slavic build she inherited from her mother. Most striking against her fair skin are the waves of deep red hair hanging to the small of her back. She most often dresses strikingly, sleek lines and a flair for the dramatic a trait definitely learned from her more notorious parent.
Personality: Wanda is a difficult woman to pin down. Radiating confidence, she is neither warm nor condescending. She simply takes you as you present yourself, and doesn't seem to mind how you interpret her- if you do so at all. Independent to a fault, Wanda's self image borders on a love affair as the words her father spoke to her all her young life have threaded themselves into the fabric of her personality. She knows precisely what she is, and needs no one to tell her any different.
Powers and Abilities: (see bottom of app for short-short version)
Reality Warping- Within chaos lies the probability of any outcome occurring at any given time. It is believed Wanda’s x-gene has triggered the innately chaotic nature of all matter within the universe. Her subconscious causes the average person to begin perceiving several probabilities at once via the illusion or actual alteration of an outcome that was not there previously. All phenomena inside or outside her control is an aspect of this single effect of her mutant nature. The scope and intensity of this ability seems dependent on Wanda’s state, both physical and mental, and the prevalence of its effect is compounded by the length of time Wanda remains in a single location. It is in effect even while she is sleeping or unconscious.
Uncontrolled Powers:
Haze Effect- In a radius of approximately 3 feet surrounding Wanda, there can be felt a sensation of things being not quite right. Some describe it as a mild drunken state, others closer to the feeling of near-fainting. Vision may warp at the periphery, dizziness is often described, some see light effects such as pale colours glowing faintly, or shadows seeming larger and more tangible than before. Some telepaths claim to be able to clearly see an orb of this effect surrounding Wanda when viewed from a distance; so far no camera has been able to capture this phenomena nor has any other similar device been successful in producing a scientific explanation for it. [For clarification purposes, this effect is in force 100% of the time.]
Illusions- As the intensity of this effect increases, people often claim to have hallucinated, or merely write the experience off as a trick of the imagination. As varied as the colour on a nearby painting warbling, the sudden image of an object set aflame, or the appearance of a doorway where there once was only a wall, these illusions effect all fives senses- music has been heard when she passes by a piano. The smell of roses, pine, or freshly tilled earth is often witnessed when Wanda is outdoors. While these illusions are not wholly dependent on a logically corresponding location(food in the kitchen, doors on a wall), the probability of their existence is higher and so these likely illusions are statistically inclined to appear in their logical place. [This effect is in force roughly 50% of the time, at random intervals but also increasing with Wanda’s mental state.]
Chaos- At its most concentrated, the probability factor comes into play so strongly that Wanda inadvertently effects the physical world around her by tapping into the possibility of change within any given object or space. Examples of this phenomena include: magazines, trees, or other flammable objects bursting into flame; water boiling in a puddle on the floor; objects breaking, bursting, or exploding as if due to a sudden pressure change; and on very rare occasions, objects appearing out of nowhere(though Wanda claims thus far she has never seen an object completely inappropriate to its environment suddenly appear. It is always leaves in the forest, books in a library, etc). [This effect is in force roughly 20% of the time, at random intervals but also increasing with Wanda’s mental state.]
Controlled Powers:
Chaos “Magic”- Through the careful and methodical training of Wanda’s mind via the substrate of what she defines as “Chaos Magic”- a matrix of symbols, their numerological relationships, and the significance of varied elements throughout existence- The Scarlet Witch has found the ability to gain partial control over the force of chaos within herself. These effects are limited only by a reasonable ‘line of sight’ radius- while she is capable of using her powers where she is not looking, she is not as capable of using chaos magic where she would not otherwise be able to see- while on a flat plain she could effect space 20 miles in any direction, if locked in a closet she could only effect the space within it.
Chaos Magic has allowed Wanda to develop these three unique powers:
Illusions- Just as with the involuntarily effect of her illusions, Wanda is able to create objects or the appearance of outcomes in an illusory form that effects all five senses. She is capable of making a broom appear as if it is on fire, complete with the crackling of broom fibers and the smell of wood burning, even down to the broom falling on the floor and the fire eventually burning out. These ‘illusions’ are not physically tangible- while you may feel the sensation of a snake crawling over your leg, you would not be able to pick the snake up- your hand would move right through it. The more complex and/or unique the object, the more difficult the illusion is to produce and to subsequently control. Thus, individuals are complex to produce even if standing still- speaking and/or moving around takes a supreme effort of concentration on Wanda’s part. Further, if the probability of a given illusion is too low, the difficulty is increased- creating an illusory boat on a lake would be easy; creating an illusory castle on the surface of the water would be far more difficult. As well the difficulty is increased by the size of the illusion- the more probability within a given space is being manipulated(considering that each individual atom and its composite parts is subject to that probability), the more of Wanda’s focus is required. She is only capable of creating and/or controlling illusions within previous mentioned ‘line of sight’. If she passes through a doorway and would not be able to turn to see her illusion, the illusion will vanish. If she is blinded, she will not be able to produce illusions aside from those that are involuntary.
Influence- Within the same sphere where the involuntary powers occur, Wanda is able to multiply or divide probable odds to either increase or decrease the likelihood of a predetermined outcome. The effect is subtle(favorable odds in gambling, elevated risk when attempting to chase after someone), but nonetheless present. Wanda has a success rating of roughly 80% with this power.
Hex Bolts- Using spells from her studies of chaos magic, Wanda is able to roughly organize her chaos field in a particular direction. The collision of static reality and infinite probability held within the ‘matrix’ causes the appearance of a beam of cascading complex polygons made of thin red lines of light, generally sent from her hands as she must concentrate her field and then send it out from herself. These will illuminate a given space for the few seconds they exist. These ‘hex bolts’ create a denser and more ‘real’ effect, tapping into the involuntary ‘chaos’ power. She is able to cause mostly destructive effects per the ‘Chaos’ ability, but at times is also capable of causing non-destructive events(an object tipping over or a seed germinating spontaneously), and producing objects out of nothingness(though the scope of this power seems to be small and Wanda is only capable of doing so with extreme concentration).
Weaknesses:
Power And The Human Soul- Wanda is completely incapable of altering living creatures with her powers(Humans, Mutants, Animals, Insects). While the forces of chaos and order exist naturally in the universe and by extension, those within it, it seems there is some static reality to the soul which Wanda cannot touch. Wanda herself may deny this, as from her own experiences she has gathered the belief that beyond her control the chaos inherent to her has effected individuals throughout her life, but as far as her “magic” is concerned, she is powerless to influence any living being.
Chaos- The power Wanda possesses is not under her control. At best she is only capable of directing or guiding it to a particular end. As a result, those efforts sometimes backfire. At a rate of roughly 25%, Wanda’s chaos magic will either fail to work at all, or result in some unexpected outcome. Occasionally she is lucky and something she intended to burst into flame only smokes a bit, or the glass in a storefront bows wildly rather than breaking. Other times, chaos reminds her that any control she has over its force is happenstance at best. A flame she intended to spark becomes an explosion filling the room and destroying all within it. The flattening of a tire becomes the disintegration of the entire vehicle. This unpredictability has forced Wanda to be extremely judicious when using her ‘magic’- she never knows when something might backfire with disastrous results.
Reality- While chaos is inherent to existence, so too is static reality and in spite of Wanda’s insistence otherwise, she is part of that reality. Unfortunately the many years of living within a sphere of infinite probability has forced Wanda to discipline her mind to the point of near handicap. Many believe Wanda Maximoff is either insane, mildly autistic, or dim witted. This is because Wanda has developed a method of curtailing the random side effects of her powers on her own mind by eradicating not only surface thought patterns, but many seemingly superfluous subconscious brain waves as well. The lessons Charles Xavier was able to teach her when she was very young were taken too far after she left the school; Wanda has for the most part ceased thinking as normal humans do. While the effects of this discipline are difficult to see on first meeting her, they are clear in her overall personality. She simply does not feel the need to impress herself on others, in fact often seems not to even realize they are there, or know whether or not they are real. Conversations occasionally will change topic on a whim, or she will begin speaking on a subject out of nowhere. Wanda is incapable of remaining steadfast to a single cause and takes little interest in doing so; to think too greatly on any one subject could cause it to unravel, and Wanda has lost greatly for doing so in the past. This does not mean Wanda is stupid or incapable of carrying on a conversation; simply that her nature is nonlinear, and those who cannot grasp what chaos truly entails will never understand her.
History:
Wanda and her twin brother were born to Magda Maximoff in the winter of 1971- the product of an affair with Eric Lensherr, a client of the doctor who employed Magda as his secretary. She never told the man of her pregnancy, giving birth in northern England and raising the infants there with her new husband, Robert Frank.
From a very young age Wanda and her brother Pietro knew they had special talents, but had it impressed upon them by their disciplinarian father to never use them, lest they be considered freaks and ostracized from society. He was known to fly into rages when Wanda would become upset and things began to behave strangely around her, who could not help but exhibit her mutant nature unlike her brother Pietro. As a result she was often the victim of harsher physical discipline than her twin. To this day Wanda believes Robert Frank was the only reason her powers were not seen more prevalently; his sense of militaristic order and neatness, as well as his intolerance of their mutant abilities created an oppressive environment for the chaos factor inherent in her as a child.
One evening the family became embroiled in an argument after Wanda came home with a note from her teacher complaining of her ‘lack of discipline’ and ‘interest in strange subjects, including witchcraft’. Particularly incensed as he had been suspecting their growing mutant abilities would expose their family, Robert Frank gave the fourteen year old a harsh beating until pulled away by Magda. Pietro lifted his sister from the floor, and the children retreated to her bedroom, where they locked themselves in.
Unbeknownst to Wanda, her emotions set off a strange chain reaction within their home. Beyond her control, water would come boiling from the tap, panes of glass would suddenly shatter, and the fire in the stove would intermittently rage, or go out completely in one great woosh. The last of all these events was the death of Magda Maximoff Frank, whose heart ceased beating in her sleep. Whether or not Magda’s death came as a result of Wanda’s powers will always be a mystery; but Robert blamed both his stepchildren without compromise, and their home became a cold place from there forward.
Robert had always known the identity of the children’s real father, and decided shortly after Magda’s death to find the man and tell him of his children. When Erik Lensherr wrote in return that he would take the children in where he was living in New York, Robert was more than happy to ship the children off. The twins on the other hand, weren’t so keen to fly across the ocean to live with someone they’d never met. Pietro and his sister ran away, taking a train to London and surviving on the streets there as best they could.
It was two years until Erik Lensherr was able to find them. Upon the creation of Cerebro, Charles Xavier assisted his partner in locating the twins. By that time, Wanda was sixteen. A lithe redhead, tall for her age and possessing her father’s brilliant blue eyes, Erik knew her the moment he saw her.
Upon meeting Wanda and Pietro he learned just how much they took after their parents. While Wanda fought with the vicious heat and passion he once possessed, asking why he’d left, why when he knew did he not come sooner, and why she should go with him now- Pietro took on his mother’s traits of strength, perseverance, and more than a little stubbornness, listening quietly and refusing to relent to Erik’s explanations.
Erik convinced Wanda to join with he and Charles, to come to the school and learn what being a mutant could truly be about. Wanda had many reasons to want what Erik was offering- she could hardly walk down the street without people feeling uneasy around her. Pietro on the other hand existed easier alongside non-mutants and saw no logic behind Erik’s arguments of mutant freedom and protection against the outside world. In spite of Wanda’s desperate pleas, she stood beside her father and refused to go with Pietro when he left. It was the first of a handful of sacrifices Wanda would make for her father’s love.
Returning to New York with Erik, Wanda did her best to integrate into life at the school. Having only been founded a number of years ago, many of the issues of mutant youth were new to Charles, Erik, and the staff; Wanda found herself subject to similar prejudices from fellow students who were understandably disconcerted by the strange sensations they experienced in her presence. As her powers grew to their full potential, Wanda herself began to unravel under the influence of chaos. Try as she may, upon graduation at 18 both Wanda and Charles knew she would not be right to be an X-Man. Unbeknownst to her father, with whom she had developed a decent, even warm relationship, Charles told Wanda where she could find Pietro. In the evening after her father had gone to sleep, Wanda left the mansion to seek out her twin.
(Leaving this time period blank in her history for story purposes. It will be completed when/if Pietro comes into play. I don’t want to write in anything the player may not want to include.)
It was during this time that Wanda was pulled into the world of neo-paganism, its roots deep and much older than even the common practicing ‘witch’ might surmise. Wanda’s unique abilities scuttled her quickly into the most exclusive occult circles throughout the United States and Europe. Traveling continually in her hunger to study the magic she had begun to believe was the key to understanding her powers, Wanda dove headlong into the studies of Thelema, a tradition formulated and propagated by Aleister Crowley at the turn of the century. Finding the methods of numerology, ancient jewish philosophy, gnosticism and the idea of ‘man as god’ an apt explanation of her own power, Wanda quickly rose within the ranks of the O.T.O. The image of this powerful woman(capable of magics many had only theorized as possible), with her fiery red hair and ritual robes a deep crimson, Wanda soon lost her birth name to the identity of “The Scarlet Witch”.
After many years apart, the man known as Magneto found his daughter again. This time he had a different reason for bringing him back with her; the forming of his Brotherhood. Wanda could not deny the draw of a world without humans, a world where she was free to be what she was- a goddess, as his father was fond of murmuring to her. After her years with the Thelemites, Wanda was not inclined to disagree with the title.
But Wanda by this time had succumbed to the full influence of the chaos within her. She was incapable of remaining in a given location for any period of time; not only would her power begin to change the inherent nature of the things around her, but she constantly felt driven to one end or another, often as whimsical as wanting to see the ocean again. It was this that caused her to decline her father’s offer. As much as his pride in her and his belief that she could be of vital use to their cause flattered her(there was little more important to Wanda than Magneto’s approval), Wanda simply did not wish to tie herself to any one cause. Her purpose was higher, she tried to explain. The universe had plans for her that went beyond the existence of homo sapiens and homo superior. And mutants had rarely shown an overwhelming amount of understanding when it came to her powers, either- so who was to say a world of mutants would make anything any better for her?
So she wandered the earth, about on her own business, spending time with this circle or that commune, living with various practitioners of various traditions and generally keeping to herself. When the Brotherhood began in earnest to effect change within the world, she watched from a distance with a mixture of awe and foreboding. It was when she attempted to interfere with his machine on Liberty Island that a subtle rift began between The Scarlet Witch and Magneto. His well known stance of “join us or stay out of our way” seemed to find its exception in his beautiful daughter; while they differ greatly in opinion over how the mutant battle should be fought, there is an ‘understanding between superiors’- or so says Wanda- that keeps them from truly becoming enemies.
Wanda came away from her youth with one belief; only gods have any right to disturb the gentle balance of death and life, order and chaos within the universe. While Magneto was a heavy influence on this opinion, his daughter holds mutant kind to a far higher standard. She does not believe all mutants are gods. Only a select few; and to hear her tell it, she can count those individuals on one hand.
“Not all beings exist within your perception, father.”
Perhaps these words echoed in Magneto’s memory when the true power of the Phoenix overcame them all at Alcatraz. It is unknown whether the Scarlet Witch and Magneto have been in contact since that time; for the most part Wanda keeps to herself, wandering here and there, leaving chaos in her wake.
Played By: Ravery
Summary of powers for the short of attention:
She can cause chaotic reactions with 75% predictability. She can bend odds positive or negatively with 80% success. She can create likely illusions for all 5 senses that may or may not remain within her control depending on their realism. All these effects also occur unvoluntarily at random intervals. Others within a 6 foot range may have disturbances in their perception effecting all senses. Wanda rarely uses her powers due to the 25% likelihood that something disastrous will happen as a result. She has also gone partially insane due to the effects of her mutation on her mind.
Codename(s): The Scarlet Witch
Affiliation: Unaffiliated
Age: 33
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 170
Hair Color: Red
Eye Color: Blue
Appearance: A tall, broad shouldered figure like her father, she is a formidable presence in spite of the graceful slavic build she inherited from her mother. Most striking against her fair skin are the waves of deep red hair hanging to the small of her back. She most often dresses strikingly, sleek lines and a flair for the dramatic a trait definitely learned from her more notorious parent.
Personality: Wanda is a difficult woman to pin down. Radiating confidence, she is neither warm nor condescending. She simply takes you as you present yourself, and doesn't seem to mind how you interpret her- if you do so at all. Independent to a fault, Wanda's self image borders on a love affair as the words her father spoke to her all her young life have threaded themselves into the fabric of her personality. She knows precisely what she is, and needs no one to tell her any different.
Powers and Abilities: (see bottom of app for short-short version)
Reality Warping- Within chaos lies the probability of any outcome occurring at any given time. It is believed Wanda’s x-gene has triggered the innately chaotic nature of all matter within the universe. Her subconscious causes the average person to begin perceiving several probabilities at once via the illusion or actual alteration of an outcome that was not there previously. All phenomena inside or outside her control is an aspect of this single effect of her mutant nature. The scope and intensity of this ability seems dependent on Wanda’s state, both physical and mental, and the prevalence of its effect is compounded by the length of time Wanda remains in a single location. It is in effect even while she is sleeping or unconscious.
Uncontrolled Powers:
Haze Effect- In a radius of approximately 3 feet surrounding Wanda, there can be felt a sensation of things being not quite right. Some describe it as a mild drunken state, others closer to the feeling of near-fainting. Vision may warp at the periphery, dizziness is often described, some see light effects such as pale colours glowing faintly, or shadows seeming larger and more tangible than before. Some telepaths claim to be able to clearly see an orb of this effect surrounding Wanda when viewed from a distance; so far no camera has been able to capture this phenomena nor has any other similar device been successful in producing a scientific explanation for it. [For clarification purposes, this effect is in force 100% of the time.]
Illusions- As the intensity of this effect increases, people often claim to have hallucinated, or merely write the experience off as a trick of the imagination. As varied as the colour on a nearby painting warbling, the sudden image of an object set aflame, or the appearance of a doorway where there once was only a wall, these illusions effect all fives senses- music has been heard when she passes by a piano. The smell of roses, pine, or freshly tilled earth is often witnessed when Wanda is outdoors. While these illusions are not wholly dependent on a logically corresponding location(food in the kitchen, doors on a wall), the probability of their existence is higher and so these likely illusions are statistically inclined to appear in their logical place. [This effect is in force roughly 50% of the time, at random intervals but also increasing with Wanda’s mental state.]
Chaos- At its most concentrated, the probability factor comes into play so strongly that Wanda inadvertently effects the physical world around her by tapping into the possibility of change within any given object or space. Examples of this phenomena include: magazines, trees, or other flammable objects bursting into flame; water boiling in a puddle on the floor; objects breaking, bursting, or exploding as if due to a sudden pressure change; and on very rare occasions, objects appearing out of nowhere(though Wanda claims thus far she has never seen an object completely inappropriate to its environment suddenly appear. It is always leaves in the forest, books in a library, etc). [This effect is in force roughly 20% of the time, at random intervals but also increasing with Wanda’s mental state.]
Controlled Powers:
Chaos “Magic”- Through the careful and methodical training of Wanda’s mind via the substrate of what she defines as “Chaos Magic”- a matrix of symbols, their numerological relationships, and the significance of varied elements throughout existence- The Scarlet Witch has found the ability to gain partial control over the force of chaos within herself. These effects are limited only by a reasonable ‘line of sight’ radius- while she is capable of using her powers where she is not looking, she is not as capable of using chaos magic where she would not otherwise be able to see- while on a flat plain she could effect space 20 miles in any direction, if locked in a closet she could only effect the space within it.
Chaos Magic has allowed Wanda to develop these three unique powers:
Illusions- Just as with the involuntarily effect of her illusions, Wanda is able to create objects or the appearance of outcomes in an illusory form that effects all five senses. She is capable of making a broom appear as if it is on fire, complete with the crackling of broom fibers and the smell of wood burning, even down to the broom falling on the floor and the fire eventually burning out. These ‘illusions’ are not physically tangible- while you may feel the sensation of a snake crawling over your leg, you would not be able to pick the snake up- your hand would move right through it. The more complex and/or unique the object, the more difficult the illusion is to produce and to subsequently control. Thus, individuals are complex to produce even if standing still- speaking and/or moving around takes a supreme effort of concentration on Wanda’s part. Further, if the probability of a given illusion is too low, the difficulty is increased- creating an illusory boat on a lake would be easy; creating an illusory castle on the surface of the water would be far more difficult. As well the difficulty is increased by the size of the illusion- the more probability within a given space is being manipulated(considering that each individual atom and its composite parts is subject to that probability), the more of Wanda’s focus is required. She is only capable of creating and/or controlling illusions within previous mentioned ‘line of sight’. If she passes through a doorway and would not be able to turn to see her illusion, the illusion will vanish. If she is blinded, she will not be able to produce illusions aside from those that are involuntary.
Influence- Within the same sphere where the involuntary powers occur, Wanda is able to multiply or divide probable odds to either increase or decrease the likelihood of a predetermined outcome. The effect is subtle(favorable odds in gambling, elevated risk when attempting to chase after someone), but nonetheless present. Wanda has a success rating of roughly 80% with this power.
Hex Bolts- Using spells from her studies of chaos magic, Wanda is able to roughly organize her chaos field in a particular direction. The collision of static reality and infinite probability held within the ‘matrix’ causes the appearance of a beam of cascading complex polygons made of thin red lines of light, generally sent from her hands as she must concentrate her field and then send it out from herself. These will illuminate a given space for the few seconds they exist. These ‘hex bolts’ create a denser and more ‘real’ effect, tapping into the involuntary ‘chaos’ power. She is able to cause mostly destructive effects per the ‘Chaos’ ability, but at times is also capable of causing non-destructive events(an object tipping over or a seed germinating spontaneously), and producing objects out of nothingness(though the scope of this power seems to be small and Wanda is only capable of doing so with extreme concentration).
Weaknesses:
Power And The Human Soul- Wanda is completely incapable of altering living creatures with her powers(Humans, Mutants, Animals, Insects). While the forces of chaos and order exist naturally in the universe and by extension, those within it, it seems there is some static reality to the soul which Wanda cannot touch. Wanda herself may deny this, as from her own experiences she has gathered the belief that beyond her control the chaos inherent to her has effected individuals throughout her life, but as far as her “magic” is concerned, she is powerless to influence any living being.
Chaos- The power Wanda possesses is not under her control. At best she is only capable of directing or guiding it to a particular end. As a result, those efforts sometimes backfire. At a rate of roughly 25%, Wanda’s chaos magic will either fail to work at all, or result in some unexpected outcome. Occasionally she is lucky and something she intended to burst into flame only smokes a bit, or the glass in a storefront bows wildly rather than breaking. Other times, chaos reminds her that any control she has over its force is happenstance at best. A flame she intended to spark becomes an explosion filling the room and destroying all within it. The flattening of a tire becomes the disintegration of the entire vehicle. This unpredictability has forced Wanda to be extremely judicious when using her ‘magic’- she never knows when something might backfire with disastrous results.
Reality- While chaos is inherent to existence, so too is static reality and in spite of Wanda’s insistence otherwise, she is part of that reality. Unfortunately the many years of living within a sphere of infinite probability has forced Wanda to discipline her mind to the point of near handicap. Many believe Wanda Maximoff is either insane, mildly autistic, or dim witted. This is because Wanda has developed a method of curtailing the random side effects of her powers on her own mind by eradicating not only surface thought patterns, but many seemingly superfluous subconscious brain waves as well. The lessons Charles Xavier was able to teach her when she was very young were taken too far after she left the school; Wanda has for the most part ceased thinking as normal humans do. While the effects of this discipline are difficult to see on first meeting her, they are clear in her overall personality. She simply does not feel the need to impress herself on others, in fact often seems not to even realize they are there, or know whether or not they are real. Conversations occasionally will change topic on a whim, or she will begin speaking on a subject out of nowhere. Wanda is incapable of remaining steadfast to a single cause and takes little interest in doing so; to think too greatly on any one subject could cause it to unravel, and Wanda has lost greatly for doing so in the past. This does not mean Wanda is stupid or incapable of carrying on a conversation; simply that her nature is nonlinear, and those who cannot grasp what chaos truly entails will never understand her.
History:
Wanda and her twin brother were born to Magda Maximoff in the winter of 1971- the product of an affair with Eric Lensherr, a client of the doctor who employed Magda as his secretary. She never told the man of her pregnancy, giving birth in northern England and raising the infants there with her new husband, Robert Frank.
From a very young age Wanda and her brother Pietro knew they had special talents, but had it impressed upon them by their disciplinarian father to never use them, lest they be considered freaks and ostracized from society. He was known to fly into rages when Wanda would become upset and things began to behave strangely around her, who could not help but exhibit her mutant nature unlike her brother Pietro. As a result she was often the victim of harsher physical discipline than her twin. To this day Wanda believes Robert Frank was the only reason her powers were not seen more prevalently; his sense of militaristic order and neatness, as well as his intolerance of their mutant abilities created an oppressive environment for the chaos factor inherent in her as a child.
One evening the family became embroiled in an argument after Wanda came home with a note from her teacher complaining of her ‘lack of discipline’ and ‘interest in strange subjects, including witchcraft’. Particularly incensed as he had been suspecting their growing mutant abilities would expose their family, Robert Frank gave the fourteen year old a harsh beating until pulled away by Magda. Pietro lifted his sister from the floor, and the children retreated to her bedroom, where they locked themselves in.
Unbeknownst to Wanda, her emotions set off a strange chain reaction within their home. Beyond her control, water would come boiling from the tap, panes of glass would suddenly shatter, and the fire in the stove would intermittently rage, or go out completely in one great woosh. The last of all these events was the death of Magda Maximoff Frank, whose heart ceased beating in her sleep. Whether or not Magda’s death came as a result of Wanda’s powers will always be a mystery; but Robert blamed both his stepchildren without compromise, and their home became a cold place from there forward.
Robert had always known the identity of the children’s real father, and decided shortly after Magda’s death to find the man and tell him of his children. When Erik Lensherr wrote in return that he would take the children in where he was living in New York, Robert was more than happy to ship the children off. The twins on the other hand, weren’t so keen to fly across the ocean to live with someone they’d never met. Pietro and his sister ran away, taking a train to London and surviving on the streets there as best they could.
It was two years until Erik Lensherr was able to find them. Upon the creation of Cerebro, Charles Xavier assisted his partner in locating the twins. By that time, Wanda was sixteen. A lithe redhead, tall for her age and possessing her father’s brilliant blue eyes, Erik knew her the moment he saw her.
Upon meeting Wanda and Pietro he learned just how much they took after their parents. While Wanda fought with the vicious heat and passion he once possessed, asking why he’d left, why when he knew did he not come sooner, and why she should go with him now- Pietro took on his mother’s traits of strength, perseverance, and more than a little stubbornness, listening quietly and refusing to relent to Erik’s explanations.
Erik convinced Wanda to join with he and Charles, to come to the school and learn what being a mutant could truly be about. Wanda had many reasons to want what Erik was offering- she could hardly walk down the street without people feeling uneasy around her. Pietro on the other hand existed easier alongside non-mutants and saw no logic behind Erik’s arguments of mutant freedom and protection against the outside world. In spite of Wanda’s desperate pleas, she stood beside her father and refused to go with Pietro when he left. It was the first of a handful of sacrifices Wanda would make for her father’s love.
Returning to New York with Erik, Wanda did her best to integrate into life at the school. Having only been founded a number of years ago, many of the issues of mutant youth were new to Charles, Erik, and the staff; Wanda found herself subject to similar prejudices from fellow students who were understandably disconcerted by the strange sensations they experienced in her presence. As her powers grew to their full potential, Wanda herself began to unravel under the influence of chaos. Try as she may, upon graduation at 18 both Wanda and Charles knew she would not be right to be an X-Man. Unbeknownst to her father, with whom she had developed a decent, even warm relationship, Charles told Wanda where she could find Pietro. In the evening after her father had gone to sleep, Wanda left the mansion to seek out her twin.
(Leaving this time period blank in her history for story purposes. It will be completed when/if Pietro comes into play. I don’t want to write in anything the player may not want to include.)
It was during this time that Wanda was pulled into the world of neo-paganism, its roots deep and much older than even the common practicing ‘witch’ might surmise. Wanda’s unique abilities scuttled her quickly into the most exclusive occult circles throughout the United States and Europe. Traveling continually in her hunger to study the magic she had begun to believe was the key to understanding her powers, Wanda dove headlong into the studies of Thelema, a tradition formulated and propagated by Aleister Crowley at the turn of the century. Finding the methods of numerology, ancient jewish philosophy, gnosticism and the idea of ‘man as god’ an apt explanation of her own power, Wanda quickly rose within the ranks of the O.T.O. The image of this powerful woman(capable of magics many had only theorized as possible), with her fiery red hair and ritual robes a deep crimson, Wanda soon lost her birth name to the identity of “The Scarlet Witch”.
After many years apart, the man known as Magneto found his daughter again. This time he had a different reason for bringing him back with her; the forming of his Brotherhood. Wanda could not deny the draw of a world without humans, a world where she was free to be what she was- a goddess, as his father was fond of murmuring to her. After her years with the Thelemites, Wanda was not inclined to disagree with the title.
But Wanda by this time had succumbed to the full influence of the chaos within her. She was incapable of remaining in a given location for any period of time; not only would her power begin to change the inherent nature of the things around her, but she constantly felt driven to one end or another, often as whimsical as wanting to see the ocean again. It was this that caused her to decline her father’s offer. As much as his pride in her and his belief that she could be of vital use to their cause flattered her(there was little more important to Wanda than Magneto’s approval), Wanda simply did not wish to tie herself to any one cause. Her purpose was higher, she tried to explain. The universe had plans for her that went beyond the existence of homo sapiens and homo superior. And mutants had rarely shown an overwhelming amount of understanding when it came to her powers, either- so who was to say a world of mutants would make anything any better for her?
So she wandered the earth, about on her own business, spending time with this circle or that commune, living with various practitioners of various traditions and generally keeping to herself. When the Brotherhood began in earnest to effect change within the world, she watched from a distance with a mixture of awe and foreboding. It was when she attempted to interfere with his machine on Liberty Island that a subtle rift began between The Scarlet Witch and Magneto. His well known stance of “join us or stay out of our way” seemed to find its exception in his beautiful daughter; while they differ greatly in opinion over how the mutant battle should be fought, there is an ‘understanding between superiors’- or so says Wanda- that keeps them from truly becoming enemies.
Wanda came away from her youth with one belief; only gods have any right to disturb the gentle balance of death and life, order and chaos within the universe. While Magneto was a heavy influence on this opinion, his daughter holds mutant kind to a far higher standard. She does not believe all mutants are gods. Only a select few; and to hear her tell it, she can count those individuals on one hand.
“Not all beings exist within your perception, father.”
Perhaps these words echoed in Magneto’s memory when the true power of the Phoenix overcame them all at Alcatraz. It is unknown whether the Scarlet Witch and Magneto have been in contact since that time; for the most part Wanda keeps to herself, wandering here and there, leaving chaos in her wake.
Played By: Ravery
Summary of powers for the short of attention:
She can cause chaotic reactions with 75% predictability. She can bend odds positive or negatively with 80% success. She can create likely illusions for all 5 senses that may or may not remain within her control depending on their realism. All these effects also occur unvoluntarily at random intervals. Others within a 6 foot range may have disturbances in their perception effecting all senses. Wanda rarely uses her powers due to the 25% likelihood that something disastrous will happen as a result. She has also gone partially insane due to the effects of her mutation on her mind.
