Background/History: Christine Reese has had a difficult life. She was born via Caesarean section, since her nascent wings prevented a normal birth. Her parents, shocked by their daughter's appearance and unable to accept the extent of her mutations, refused to accept her and immediately put Christine up for adoption. Unfortunately, no one wanted to adopt a child with such obvious physical deformations, and Christine quickly became a ward of the state of Montana, a fate that was to last her for the first ten years of her life.
When she was ten years old, Christine began to hit puberty. Her height increased dramatically, while her appetite reached almost unheard of proportions. Her wings, which up until now had been small and almost stunted, quickly increased in size and scale until they stretched more than ten feet across. As her wings grew in size, so did Christine's strength, until finally her wings were strong enough to allow Christine to fly short distances unaided.
News of the winged girl who could fly spread quickly among the medical community. Although mutants were well known, few had expressed such interesting and unusual physical side effects. Christine soon found herself the center of attention from a variety of groups, the most inquisitive of which was the Bureau of Mutant Affairs (a.k.a. BOMA). BOMA, in turn, had Christine transferred from her quarters in Montana to their operations center in Virginia. There, Christine was subjected to a variety of medical experiments and tests, as well as training designed to increase the mastery of her emerging telekinetic powers.
Personality/Motivation: Due to her upbringing, Christine is a very lonely person. Shunned by other children (and some adults), she has lived most of her life either alone, or surrounded by doctors and scientists. This has resulted in Christine being fairly introverted and silent; since no one ever asked her what she wanted, she doesn't bother to try and express her opinions anymore.
Since BOMA took her in and trained her, Christine feels that she is in their debt and owes them some sort of payment. As she has no money, her services as a BOMA field agent will have to due. Although she is not sure she is ready for such a responsibility, Christine is willing to give it a try. However, Christine has made it quite clear that although she will fight BOMA's foes for them, she will not kill.
As she is not much of a "people person," Christine will spend a lot of her time alone. Usually she spends her free time outside, for if there is one thing that Christine has found she loves more than anything else, it is flying. She often takes to the air when left to her own devices, and will happily spend most of the day thousands of feet up in the air.
Quote: "There are times when I think my wings are a curse, and there are times where I think they are a blessing. All I can do is deal with it the best I can."
Powers/Tactics: Although gifted with an impressive set of wings, it is still physically impossible for Christine to fly. Simply put, her mass to size ratio is insufficient to allow her full, independent flight. Apparently, Christine's ability to fly seems to be the result of a powerful, but limited form of telekinesis. In her case, her wings serve as a focus for her telekinetic powers, and each wing beat directs a telekinetic "pulse," providing lift and thrust. Naturally, if her wings are entangled or restrained, Christine will fall out of the sky.
In addition to her ability to fly, Christine is capable of minor feats of telekinesis. This ability to very draining, however, and only usable on limited amounts of weight. Christine's great physical strength is also thought to be a side effect of her telekinetic powers. She can lift in excess of 2,000 lbs, and a single blow from one of her wings is sufficient to cripple the average man.
Appearance: Snowbird is tall, slender and devastatingly beautiful. She stands close to 6' in height, with violet eyes, ears that come to a narrow point, and long snow-white hair that falls to her waist. Her wings are also white and thickly feathered; they are quite large and when fully extended measure a full 20' from wing tip to wing tip. It is from her white hair and feathers that her BOMA code identity of "Snow Angel" is derived.
Due to her wings, Snow Angel is unable to wear most clothing. Normally she has to settle for a variety of open-backed outfits, although BOMA has supplied her with some more fully-covering attire for more formal occasions. Her costume for field operations consists of a Spectra fabric bodysuit colored in blue and white. Over that she wears white armor plates on her forearms and lower legs.
Designer's Notes: A few comments on Snow Angel's wings: as she is equipped with a 20' wingspread, Snow Angel has found many things that "normal" people take for granted to be difficult or nearly impossible. A short list includes: sleep on her back, ride in almost any car, ride in most planes, fit in the average shower or toilet stall, wear most clothing, or even walk down a store isle and not brush against anything. In order to bathe, for example, Snow Angel either has to use the base's communal shower room, or find a fairly isolated length of river (which happens to be her preferred method).
As written, Snow Angel is a character with a lot of room for development. She is fairly weak offensively, and lacks any variety to her attacks other than a pure strength punch or a wing buffet. It is possible BOMA might issue her some sort of weapon; a long staff would be a good choice, or some sort of ranged weapon, although BOMA is unsure if Snow Angel would care to carry a gun.
For those that wish to use Snow Angel in a campaign, I suggest the following: make her an agent of UNTIL, or some other "super agency" (such as PRIMUS or SAT); make her a novice superhero with an established team; make her a college student who happens to be a mutant; or have her as a normal person trying to get by with an unusual physical feature/disability. For a slightly grimmer character, she could be an outcast, living in back alleys and rooftops, and trying to deal with her condition.
(Character sheet created by Michael Surbrook)