Silverwing

Powers
Overall, Charlotte Englewood is a moderately athletic but brilliant young woman with little exceptional about her beyond her skills and training. The singular exception to this is that she has learned the secrets of and bonded to a particular mystical, magical item: an amulet of still unknown origins.

By holding the amulet in hand and uttering the words of of the ritual: "Let this star of Heaven's Light shine down and bless the bearer."

This calls forth a flair of blue-tinged silvery light. When that passes, Charlotte is gone, replaced by a towering and majestic, beautiful figure, an idealized angel of over seven feet in height with impossible grace and beauty, bearing long flowing silver hair, eyes of gleaming silver orbs, and huge wings with silver feathers. (Roughly analogous to the magical transformation of a member of the Fawcett City 'Marvel' family when calling out Shazam!, though this is a bit more involved. Charlotte cannot make the transformation without the amulet.)

In this form, Silverwing is stronger, faster more agile, smarter, has a greater will, greater presence, and so forth. In addition, she is capable of flight. Oddly enough, though the wings do in fact appear to be used for this flight, restraining them does not cause her to fall.

Silverwing also possesses special senses. She can see magical auras around herself, analyze these magical auras in detail, and perceive auras into the Astral plane. In addition, with a touch and concentration she is able to diagnose the medical state of another living being and any afflictions or injuries they may suffer as a result. Doing so requires that Silverwing remain in contact with the subject and concentrate on what she is reading from them, making her vulnerable and much easier to surprise or strike while doing so. This is also somewhat tiring to maintain.

Silverwing has the ability to call upon additional magical powers. Most of these require her to perform gestures and incantations which shape the energies to her will.


 * Angelic Strength Boost - Silverwing can perform a magical ritual which summons forth great strength. Her body takes a full phase to absorb and assimilate these energies, changing visibly as muscle definition increases.
 * Angelic Perception - Silverwing can cast a spell powered by her innate magic to send her perceptions to another point of her choosing, enabling to actually perceive fully the other location up to nearly 4.5 kilometers away. This point of perception can move about as she wills, up to 12 meters per phase. While concentrating on this other point, Silverwing's perceptions of her surroundings disappear, making her very vulnerable to attack.
 * Angelic Dispel - Silverwing can shape a spell powered by her innate magic to attack and try to dispel another source of magic. She must shape the spell specifically to affect a single, specified magical aura with each casting. This effect is very tiring.
 * Angelic Blast - Silverwing can summon and shape her magic into a blast of blue-tinged silvery energy. While tiring, this blast is a raw form of light-based energy sufficient to do quite a bit of damage.
 * Angelic Entrapment - Silverwing can summon and shape her magic into a blast that can ensnare the target's mind and will, trapping them within their own body. As such, only the will - Ego - can resist to break out of this. The trapped subject is still completely exposed, vulnerable to other attacks while held, and others generally cannot help free the subject, though mental attacks could damage the mystical bonds, and magical spells could dispel it. These bonds are especially vulnerable to unholy magic, and to the will of such creatures. This spell can affect the insubstantial, making it a means to trap spirits and ghosts.
 * Angelic Portal - Silverwing can summon and shape her magic into a portal through which she and up to eight others may pass to reach an alternate dimension. This is most often the Astral plane, though it can be any plane to which she can properly attune herself and the portal.
 * Angelic Barrier - Silverwing can summon forth and shape her magic into a silvery wall of energy, which can block physical and energy attacks, and to some extent mental and other special attacks. This barrier must be maintained constantly or it fades away to nothingness. Any killing attack against Mental or Power defense pierces and shatters the wall completely and unhindered.
 * Angelic Blindness - Silverwing can summon forth and shape her magic into a blast of energy that blinds a target, affecting sight, mental and mystical sense groups. However, she must deliver this spell by touch upon her target.
 * Angelic Healing - Silverwing can summon forth and shape her magic to heal others. She must maintain contact and concentrating focus for a turn while the healing takes place. She can continue to do so every turn for as long as she has the energy to do so, and continue healing the the subject of normal damage (Stun equal to the dice, and Body equal to the body rolled on the normal dice).
 * Angelic Blade - Silverwing can summon forth and shape her magic into a blade of silvery energy. This requires no gestures or incantations, but it requires both of her hands to maintain it. It remains a physical manifestation, which powers of sufficient strength could shatter. If she removes a hand from the blade, it disappears. So long as the blade remains manifest, Silverwing cannot call upon any of her other magical powers, and her mystical senses are blinded.
 * Gift of Tongues - Silverwing can summon forth and shape her magic to grant her the ability to speak and understand any language, the proverbial Gift of Tongues.
 * Unearthly Beauty - Silverwing can summon forth and shape her magic to grant her a shimmering halo effect and the power of seemingly divine, unearthly beauty, which can be staggering to behold.

Skills
Charlotte is a very experienced and talented archaeologist, with skills ranging from the skills of study: the ability to decipher ancient and forgotten languages, the ability to decode texts that have been written to obscure their meanings, the ability to analyze pieces and determine if they or their documentation have been forged or altered, and the ability to deal successfully with the red tape, regulations and people of large institutions like universities and museums. She also has extensive skills for the field, including knowledge of survival means in a wide array of environments, the ability to read and process maps, and experience appraising objects, recovering artifacts in the field, analyzing languages, and teaching others. Her greatest talent is her facility with language, for she is truly a polyglot, fluent in over fifteen languages from the modern and ancient world. She has made a study of ancient lands and cultures, art and symbols, myth and mythology, arcane and occult lore, architecture and even the materials used in their work, and has made a study of lands and cities all over the modern and ancient world.

OOC Note: Based on the rule that one should not pay for flavor skills that will not come up in game play, quite a few of Charlotte's languages, knowledge skills and area knowledges have been set with a price of 0. Should any of these actually come up in game play, the player acknowledges the need to immediately spend available XP to cover the purchase price of the skill or skills involved prior to any other expenditures.

Complications
Charlotte is a very experienced and talented archaeologist, with skills ranging from the skills of study: the ability to decipher ancient and forgotten languages, the ability to decode texts that have been written to obscure their meanings, the ability to analyze pieces and determine if they or their documentation have been forged or altered, and the ability to deal successfully with the red tape, regulations and people of large institutions like universities and museums. She also has extensive skills for the field, including knowledge of survival means in a wide array of environments, the ability to read and process maps, and experience appraising objects, recovering artifacts in the field, analyzing languages, and teaching others. Her greatest talent is her facility with language, for she is truly a polyglot, fluent in over fifteen languages from the modern and ancient world. She has made a study of ancient lands and cultures, art and symbols, myth and mythology, arcane and occult lore, architecture and even the materials used in their work, and has made a study of lands and cities all over the modern and ancient world.

OOC Note: Based on the rule that one should not pay for flavor skills that will not come up in game play, quite a few of Charlotte's languages, knowledge skills and area knowledges have been set with a price of 0. Should any of these actually come up in game play, the player acknowledges the need to immediately spend available XP to cover the purchase price of the skill or skills involved prior to any other expenditures.

Complications
As Silverwing Charlie has several complications that come up only in that form, as part of the nature of that form.
 * If rendered unconscious, it sometimes happens that Silverwing reverts to Charlie. If this happens, she drops off even more solidly, as all of the stun she suffered remains, now going against a much weaker constitution.
 * Silverwing needs the amulet about her neck, the source of her magic and her power. In this form, she cannot survive long without it. If the item is taken from her, she will suffer pain and injury within a mere turn, and every turn thereafter until it is returned, or she is dead. Her only salvation might be that the damage which would drop her unconscious could cause her to revert to Charlie. But she would be unable to ever resume the form of Silverwing unless she can then recapture the amulet, for without it she cannot perform the ritual to change forms.
 * Silverwing herself has a very distinctive and striking appearance. Topping seven feet tall, with long flowing silver hair, eyes like silver marbles, and huge silver-feathered wings, she cannot exactly blend in, nor would she try. Add to this her commanding presence and drool-worthy beauty, and she makes an impression anywhere and everywhere she goes.
 * She is also vulnerable to unholy or decidedly evil and dark magic, having double the effect on her it would on another as such energies run antithetical to the nature of the form defined by Charlotte's subconscious mind.
 * Silverwing garners a lot of attention from churches and religious groups, and is constantly watched by these people, wanting to learn more about why she's here, what she's doing, etc. Given the nature of her form, this is unsurprising.
 * Silverwing is also deeply compelled to aid and protect those she perceives as innocents. She will do so in any way she possibly can, regardless of apparent consequences, especially if they appeal to her for aid.

It should also be noted that Silverwing is herself rather unpopular with the forces of VIPER, whom she has foiled more than once in spectacular fashion. Now that Silverwing has taken up apparent residence in Colonial Bay, their interest in her has only grown, and they will be making a nuisance of themselves.

Charlie herself has several of her own complications:
 * Charlie is always on the lookout for those who would plunder mystical history, heritage or knowledge, seeking to foil their plans and restore such things to their rightful heirs, protectors, etc. She knows how important these things are, and she cannot bear to think of them in the hands of the unworthy.
 * Charlie has a rotating position of a research assistant assigned from Colonial Bay University, working with her both at the college and at the museum. As a constant companion in her civilian work, Charlie tends to become close to and befriend these people while they are with her. This puts them in danger, and she feels obligated to protect them.
 * Charlie - and Silverwing have a distinct magical aura. Those sensitive to such things can notice this, and may even be able to associate the aura of one with the aura of the other, piercing the veil of Charlie's secret.
 * Charlie does maintain a secret identity. Her discovery as the source of Silverwing would be rather catastrophic for her, as it would put her family in danger from those who wish to control or stop Silverwing, and it would mean she would never get another moment's peace from religious figures and groups.
 * Holding down two jobs in one, Charlie has a great deal of obligations to Colonial Bay University and to the museum. She can't just disappear, she has to go to work. People depend upon her.
 * Charlie is dedicated and driven to preserve all life by every means at her disposal. She will not willingly kill another, even a terrible criminal, and would be wracked with guilt should she fail to save someone, let alone cause their death by her own actions.
 * Charlie is shy and repressed, a relatively socially awkward young woman despite her breadth of experience. She finds it difficult to befriend those she has nothing in common with, and she tries to keep her distance as much as she can, having lost so many of those to whom she has been close.
 * In the world of higher academics, it is normal and expected for one to be driven to outdo others in one's field, and young Charlie is no exception, especially because of the reception of some of her earlier works.

Origin
The origin of Charlie's tenure as Silverwing is relatively simple. While on a dig several years ago in a region of modern Iraq which was once the ancient lands of Mesopotamia, Charlotte discovered a hidden section of the site and within it an amulet. Translating the inscription upon the amulet and the walls of the place where it was found, she unlocked the power within.

That magical power, once unleashed, bonded with its bearer, calling forth in a plethora of languages and dialects terms for 'savior' and 'hero' and 'goodness'. What it then took from Charlotte's mind was the image these things evoked within her: that of an angel.

The magical power then created the new shape of Silverwing. Over seven feet tall, broad-shouldered and beautiful, truly beyond human in every way.

Now, whenever Charlotte holds the amulet and speaks that phrase, she is transformed again.

As for the origin of the amulet itself, there is limited information available. According to the paintings and inscriptions where the amulet was found, the stone in the amulet was found having fallen from the heavens, which would imply a meteorite. The amulet was constructed around it, of unknown materials - a super-hard metal that looks like silver, and what seems to be diamond filling the runes in the metal. The walls told the tale of a great warrior, led by visions to a place where the stone fell from the heavens. He claimed the stone and set it as the visions told him to, and then took up the amulet and claimed the power within, becoming a mighty hero and savior to his people. When at last he faced his death, he asked of his closest friend that he find the amulet when he fell, and secret it away that it not be used against their people. Supposedly, it waited from that day until the day Charlotte found it.

Where the magic of the stone came from before then is unknown.

Personality

 * Caring -- To most peoples' way of measuring such things, Charlotte's nurturing and caring side is a good bit less obvious. Indeed, some would likely say that it doesn't exist. But Charlotte does care a great deal about people. She is simply less visibly demonstrative of that fact. She doesn't gush over babies or children, not because they aren't cute or precious or special, but because it makes her uncomfortable. If one were in need, obviously she would help. But she is just as likely to help a stranger who trips and falls to get back to her feet, check for any injury, and see them safely on their way. Those that truly see the depth of Charlotte's caring would be those who somehow manage to pierce the veil of quiet that surrounds her to reach the real woman underneath. The one who is inspired by the lessons of the Girl Scouts, and donates time and money to women's shelters, education, support groups, crisis centers. The one who sits up all night with a sick friend, just because they shouldn't be alone.
 * Bookworm -- Charlotte loves to read. She loves books. She respects modern technology, but nothing for her will ever replace the comfort of a solid, physical tome of paper or parchment on a table or in her lap, reading, smelling, touching it all. Charlotte loves libraries. Bookstores. Growing up, at times her best friends were books and the characters within them. At times her favorite adventures took place alongside the heroes and characters of the books and the worlds they explored. Charlotte never became sedentary by her absorption of books, but instead took them as inspiration for activity of her own.
 * Outdoorswoman -- Charlotte loves the outdoors. She loves to walk outside. She loves to sit amongst the trees. She loves to go swimming. She loves to go hiking. She enjoys camping, canoeing and kayaking. Charlotte really loves the outdoors, even when she's out in the desert sands. It's really that simple. From a very early age, Charlotte's parents instilled this love quite consciously into their little girl, and like so many things, she took it true to heart.
 * Quiet -- Charlotte is one of those rarest of beings in this world: one that doesn't need to talk. She doesn't need to make noise to fill up the silences in the world. She doesn't need the sound of her own voice to feel alive. It doesn't mean she doesn't talk. Of course she does, and quite eloquently. But she never talks just to talk, she never speaks if it isn't necessary, and she is often more comfortable saying nothing, or very little. She is also someone who communicates as much or more nonverbally than she does verbally.
 * Introverted -- Though not painfully so, Charlotte is introverted. It doesn't mean she doesn't like people. It doesn't mean she doesn't like talking. But she doesn't really relish talking about herself. She prefers to talk about work. About research. About the weather. Or about the other person or people. Not about herself. She likes to keep herself private. This preference has become a good bit stronger with the recent events and changes in her life.
 * Learning -- In Charlotte's estimation, learning is the source of everything good and wonderful in all the world. She loves to learn. She loves to help others learn. She loves to help discover the knowledge that will be set before others to learn. She genuinely believes that education and learning are the means to the betterment of individuals and society as a whole.
 * Inner Sadness -- Though she doesn't show it often or with much depth to others, there is a deep inner sadness within Charlotte. She has lost her closest friend and the wonderful man with whom she had quite literally made plans to spend the rest of her life. And this scant months after losing her maternal grandparents. Charlotte has been gravely reminded of the brief nature of life, and the nature of loss. And that makes her quietly very sad inside. It's possible that will change with time, that she will heal and grow. But it hasn't happened now and it won't be easy.
 * Inquisitive -- Charlotte is naturally inquisitive. She wants to find the answers to mysteries. She wants to find the secrets that no one knows, the ones that have been forgotten or hidden away. If it is a code, she wants to break it. If it is a puzzle, she wants to solve it. It's just the way she is. But it makes her a very good archaeologist, and a darned good investigator.
 * Bright -- Charlotte is a very bright, intelligent young woman. Her IQ is roughly 150 according to standard tests. She has a gifted analytical mind, with a talent for intuitively finding her way to answers based on her available information and then working backward to build the necessary research and data to back up the conclusion.
 * Guilt -- Charlotte is carrying a pretty load of guilt. She feels guilty for surviving when her friends did not. She feels guilty that Hans died protecting her, and she didn't save or heal him. She feels guilty that she lied, not telling anyone about the talisman's power. She feels guilty for taking what is quite clearly a priceless treasure of pre-history and leaving others to assume it had been stolen. She feels guilty for not being perfect enough to be worthy of the power and position of an angel. She feels guilty for confusing others' faith. Charlotte lives with it all. But there's a lot of guilt going on.
 * Heroic -- In spite of herself, Charlotte is a woman with a strong heroic drive. She wants to help people. She wants to make the world a better place. She wants to save lives and protect the innocent. She doesn't want or need adoration or praise or even recognition. She just wants to help.
 * Faith -- As if the form of Silverwing wasn't a big enough clue, Charlotte is a woman of strong personal faith. She believes that there is indeed a higher power in this Universe. One can call it - him, maybe her - by any number of names. Ascribe any number of values or traditions . But she believes in that higher power, and she believes in the divine and blessed servants, messengers, warriors and children of that power. She sees great worth and value in several of the different faiths of the world, and she respects them all. Her own approach rather synthesizes elements from all of these.
 * Sexuality -- As one of the primary biological survival drives, ones' sexuality becomes a powerful defining force in an individual's personality. Charlotte is no different. In Charlotte's case, her own mild uncertainty and confusion about her sexuality has defined several key points in her life. Unable to get herself viewed as a sexual being worth anyone's time or attention in high school, Charlotte was left with a permanent self-image of herself as relatively unattractive and not worth notice. This then augmented dramatically her openness to the approach of the first person to openly and sincerely declare an attraction for her, even though that person was another female. And that event marked her psyche just as strongly as had the previous four years. The same pattern has repeated itself twice more, with ever more permanence associated, and ever greater sense of profound loss when it is gone. Charlotte doesn't do labels. She doesn't consider herself lesbian or straight or even bisexual. She is a woman capable of seeing the beauty and attraction in any other person, male or female, who sees beauty and worth in her, and is capable of helping her to see herself through their eyes.
 * Goals -- One's goals define one's path in life and guide one's choices. So understanding those can be the key to understanding where someone is headed. Here are Charlotte's goals:
 * Professional Goals -- While Charlotte has in fact now accomplished much of what she had previously set for herself as goals in her profession and education, she has come to find herself escalating her goals, looking to reach ever higher. She would really like to uncover the rest of the secrets surrounding the ancient, pre-Sumerian culture that clearly was responsible for the site where the talisman was found. She would like someday to be able to position herself as a noted authority upon them, and add her knowledge and wisdom on that subject to a greater understanding for all mankind of their true origins. She would like to continue to learn more of the hidden and secret bits of ancient past tied in with many superheroes, supervillains, metahumans and other races, and be able to paint a much more complete picture of the origins and development of mankind and its cultures.
 * Heroic Goals -- First and foremost, Charlotte wants to learn to be a better and more capable heroine. Right now, she's really just making things up as she goes along, doing her best to improvise without making a complete idiot of herself. While she believes sometimes fighting is necessary, she's not very good at it, and obviously if she is to make a difference in making the world a better place, she's going to have to learn to do better, and get more confident in her abilities.
 * Personal Goals -- Right now, Charlotte's biggest goal personally is to be able to move past the terrible weight of survivor's guilt she's carrying around after the incidents that brought Silverwing into her life. Eventually, that recovery is also going to require coming to terms with the fact that her best relationship in her entire life ended in unspeakable tragedy, and that she holds herself to blame for not saving Hans.

After all of that is resolved, perhaps Charlotte will be able to acknowledge her true goals for her own personal life. She would like to meet someone who can be her match and her mate, someone to love who will love her in return. She'd like to have a family before it is too late. But even if she ever looked at this part of her own wishes, she has no idea how to reconcile this with her heroing at all.
 * Mystical Goals -- Charlotte has never taken the mystical arts seriously, until the need to do so was pretty much dropped in her lap. As such, Charlotte has a lot of learning to do in this area. She'd like someday to get a lot more comfortable with such things, because she suspects therein lies the key to unlocking greater potential with the talisman and Silverwing, and perhaps a real chance at making the world a better place.

Life History
Sarah Chandral Meline, daughter of a well-off long-standing Long Island family, first met Alexander Michael Englewood at a faculty and staff mixer held after Alex had come for an interview for a position amongst the prestigious Engineering department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Sarah was already a member of the faculty, the youngest of the English Literature staff. While their meeting was not what either would call simply 'love at first sight', there was a definite connection that both felt, and pursued once Alex took the job at UIC. Most interesting to Sarah was recognizing that Alex had chosen to leave his great success in the private sector to become a teacher and researcher at the University, wishing to share his knowledge and inspiration with future generations. This struck a chord with Sarah, and that common bond would see them through much. Two years later, the couple would marry in a rather large ceremony, paid for rather lavishly by Sarah's parents.

The couple would welcome their one and only child some nineteen months later. They had taken the train from Chicago to Long Island to visit with Sarah's family at their estate for the long Memorial Day weekend of 1979. The fifteen hours of labor would begin while they were still on the train returning from Long Island. Thankfully, they would still reach Chicago and their own obstetrician with hours yet to spare. Charlotte Ann Englewood would be born in the mid-morning hours of November 13th, 1979. Her parents were overjoyed, especially with her good health. At seven points and nine ounces she was healthy enough to take home within two days of her birth, despite concerns that Sarah was possibly too old to give birth to a healthy baby at her 'advanced years' (for that time, at 35).

Charlotte's early years were quite good, doted on and adored by both her parents and encouraged in all things. Charlotte was encouraged to be a very active and outdoorsy child in spite of her parents' city-bound lifestyle, with long visits to the parks and to campgrounds when time allowed becoming a regular part of their lives together. Yet while they made a concerted effort to encourage their child's physical activity and love of Nature and the outdoors, neither parent could help instilling in Charlotte a love of language and learning. She was already reading well above the accepted second grade level when she started in kindergarten, and such would prove to be a pattern throughout her academic career.

Living in the city as she did, Charlotte did not lack for playmates and friends in her early life, but as she matured in school her opportunities seemed to wane. Still a happy and healthy child, Charlotte's learned love of reading and her parents' gentle but constant, well-meaning influence pushing for academic success would label her as a 'bookworm' amongst her peers. This made her much beloved amongst her teachers, however, and Charlotte never lacked for encouragement or support. She also learned well the social graces, often accompanying one parent, the other or both to college functions or around the campus, meeting with those many years or senior and still striving to make human connections despite the gulf in age.

Once Charlotte was old enough, she joined the Brownies, her parents greatly encouraged by what they themselves had seen and read of the programs' successes in developing strong, independent and capable young women. It would be here, at last, that Charlotte would shed the 'bookworm' persona and label and become accepted by at least one subset of her peers. Loving the outdoors and eager to read and learn, she would pursue all of the avenues of study and activity for the Brownies and later the Girl Scouts. She would later comment to others that it was this experience which would greatly influence her choice of career.

Charlotte continued her love of academics into her teen years and high school, which made things a bit of a challenge socially for the young woman. While her participation in the Girl Scouts gave her some social outlet, that didn't help as much in the daily grind of the social pressure-cooker that was high school. Charlotte just didn't value the sorts of things that helped a girl become popular or accepted. Whatever clothing was comfortable and serviceable was fine with her, having no real interest in what was fashionable, let alone keeping up with the latest. While she understood the purpose of makeup when trying to present her best appearance for a party or other special outing, she never bothered with it on a daily basis.

With extracurricular activities outside of Scouting that where the 'who's who' of geeks - chess club, academic challenge club and honor society - Charlotte just never quite stood out amongst her peers. All of the teachers knew who she was and prized the attentive, sweet and hard-working girl, however. Yet that wouldn't get her the attention of most of the guys she would follow longingly with her eyes. And she was beneath their notice, even as a possible tutor to those with academic challenges. Charlotte did not attend her high school prom or the other special dances. Yet in spite of these disappointments, she remained a relatively happy and bright, energetic young woman, with a growing interest in languages, linguistics and history. But she did manage to get accepted early decision to the university of her choice: the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her parents were only mildly disappointed she wasn't going to be at their campus in Chicago, but it was more than close enough for their comfort.

It would be a rather surprising - to Charlotte - experience the night of her high school graduation that would somewhat change her interest in more social contexts. Charlotte's class was one of those for whom the PTA arranged a 'safe and sane' graduation party, and strongly encouraged all of the students to sign up and participate. This amounted to a rather large party held on the UIC campus grounds (as this was after college graduation), using such facilities as the Field House and Student Union buildings starting within an hour of the evening graduation ceremony and continuing until late the next morning. The several hundred students of Charlotte's class were rarely all in one place like this, so it meant encountering and having fun with people she had very nearly 'never met'. And the festive atmosphere - even without any alcohol present - made it much more conducive compared to the halls of their high school over the previous four years.

Early on that evening, Charlotte saw one of her friends from Girl Scouts, Kelly Damler, and the two quickly paired up as they went from one activity to the other, having great fun. Though Charlotte had seen Kelly around school now and again, they'd had no classes or activities together, outside of Girl Scouts. The girls talked a great deal that night, going dancing in one space, settling down for the play money casino, and even going swimming. But while Charlotte remembers a great deal from their time together that night, it would be Kelly's confession, shyly offered during an awkward moment in the locker room, that would be her most dramatic memory. That, and the bit of enthusiastic if awkward fumbling that would go on during the wee hours in an otherwise quiet exercise room.

That night would never get the chance to blossom into anything more for either young woman, however. The very next day, Kelly's family would leave on a long vacation. This left Charlotte alone to consider the impact of those events and ponder her own feelings. By the time Kelly returned to the area, Charlotte had already left for a month and a half long visit with her grandparents in Long Island. Both girls would end up headed off to college with no chance to really discuss that night any further. But it remained a pleasant and important, positive memory for Charlotte.

Attending university was a new opportunity for Charlotte, a chance to leave behind previous preconceptions and try to find herself. No longer was she looked down upon for being a bookworm or for studying hard. No longer was she immediately relegated to a second class citizen amongst her peers. She synthesized a direction for her studies, gleaned from her love of languages from her mother, her love of science and physics and engineering from her father, and her love of studying and history. These came together for her into a choice of archaeology as a path of study. That this also combined well with her love of the outdoors truly made it seemingly the best of all possible choices for Charlotte.

Meanwhile, her endeavors in social situations were more successful than in high school, allowing Charlotte to build a small circle of friends with whom she became increasingly comfortable. Plagued a bit by questions of her own sexuality in the wake of her experience with Kelly, Charlotte at first kept the idea of dating on the back burner, more interested in making friends than exploring anything more than that. But when her bright and bookwormish nature made her the ideal candidate to tutor one of the baseball stars, Charlotte's conviction not to indulge in dating started to waver. Karl was tall, strong, handsome and loved the outdoors. And while he wasn't as talented in chemistry as she was, he was not unintelligent and was very diligent. They seemed to fit very well, though Karl didn't quite seem to see Charlotte in the same light in which she saw him.

Following the end of her freshman year, Charlotte again journeyed to Long Island for a family vacation. Afterward, she returned to Chicago with her parents and took a summer job at the UIC library, returning to her own campus a week before classes began for her sophomore year. She continued her studies in linguistics, ancient history, and physics in furtherance of her degree. She also continued her efforts socially. Thanks to the friendship she'd built with Karl the previous year, she was able to add herself to his circle of friends for some outings. It was still a surprise - pleasant indeed - for Charlotte when Karl asked her out on a date.

It was Karl who coined Charlotte's nickname, 'Charlie', taking great amusement in the fact that his diminutive but attractive girlfriend, actually quite ladylike in manner, was still so physically capable and independent. Charlotte found Karl to be a caring and funny, wonderful young man and good company. They dated seriously for the rest of that year and much of the next year. But while they cared for each other and fit very well, Charlotte was looking for the storybook romance, 'til death do us part' permanence of marriage, while Karl was looking for fun. As the pressure of commitment grew, so did his discontent. When he graduated at the end of Charlie's junior year, they parted ways as friends but nothing more.

Deciding that she needed a break and a chance to really get away, Charlotte took an internship that summer with an archaeological dig in southern California, Arizona and New Mexico studying the Native American tribes and several newly located small settlements. She got to meet and work with several up and coming archaeologists, historians and sociologists during her summer, building connections that would surely help her future career in the field, while also reaffirming her own dedication to the calling.

Charlotte's senior year was relatively uneventful, save that she managed to secure admission to the Masters program at Harvard University. With the advent of metahumans and many of their rather interesting origins, including the implications for rewriting segments of supposedly known history, she couldn't pass up the chance to be closer to the apparent 'heart of the action'. Her thesis was actually a treatise on the implications to the study of world cultural development from the discovery of the Atlanteans through the appearance of their heroes, re-evaluating ancient mythologies and how much closer to actual history of the time period it may well be given what had already been learned.

Her masters thesis was rather well received, though some viewed her conclusions as a bit suspect. One of her reviewers went as far as to say that Charlotte's personal desire for a vindication of the feminine ideal compelled her to overstate and dramatize the impact of the Amazon contribution to history and cultural development. But while Charlotte may not have been the bravest young woman socially, she proved to be a determined debater ready to defend her premise and conclusions passionately and with the conviction of her evidence. It would be that passionate defense of her thesis which would win Charlotte the opportunity to pursue her doctoral studies at New York University in a cooperative fellowship with Cambridge University.

The doctoral studies at Cambridge gave Charlotte her first chance to travel overseas, an experience that truly opened up her eyes as nothing else ever could. Never again would the United States be the entire sum of her emotive world. Intellectually, she had long known that a great deal of the world existed outside the US, but only seeing and being a part of it could really change that feeling at the core of who she was. And when her fellowship offered her the opportunity to travel to dig sites around the world for additional hours and research, she couldn't pass up the opportunity. Unfortunately, her first foreign dig studying pre-Roman-era discoveries in southernmost England was cut short by the news that her grandparents had died, killed in a car accident. Charlotte loved her maternal grandparents a great deal, and chose to take sabbatical and leave the dig to return to Long Island for their funeral.

It was hard on Charlotte to face leaving after having spent two months in Long Island with her parents, helping to close up the mansion and settle the estate there. But while she welcomed the time with her parents and the chance to say goodbye to her grandparents, they had actively supported her studies and had expressed their pride in her work and accomplishments. In the end, she decided it would have been a grave disservice to them not to continue her studies. So she returned to England and helped to finish up the work at the dig site.

Behind on hours due to her sabbatical, Charlotte returned to Cambridge to continue classes until the next dig site was ready. Charlotte was part of a very large team this time, both locals and representatives from several foreign universities and research programs, all headed to a newly discovered site in what had been the southern delta of the Tigris river in ancient Mesopotamia. The work was hot, made a bit worse by the fact that as a woman Charlotte was required to dress in traditional burqua or risk offending the local population and workers. Nevertheless, Charlotte was more than willing to accept these sorts of restrictions for the opportunity for such exceptional front-line research. And it was also a chance to brush up on her own linguistic studies. All too often she tended to view the languages she studied as 'dead', so to be immersed in a region and people that spoke one of those languages on a daily basis - even if it was a long-evolved and differentiated form - was rather a welcome challenge.

Beyond the amazing opportunity of exploring, mapping and examining the discovery site and the artifacts themselves, and the linguistic and cultural challenges, Charlotte also found herself - quite unexpectedly - quickly embroiled in a burgeoning relationship with one of the German team members, Hans Eigold. The gentle and soft-spoken giant seemed to take an instant liking to Charlotte, and even found her 'American nickname' amusing and endearing, rather than baffling or odd. Even better, behind those soulful eyes and that mighty exterior lay the mind of a gifted anthropologist and an inspired poet. Charlie found herself falling quickly and quite hard for Hans, and the feeling was clearly mutual. This was made a bit challenging due to the local cultural issues, but they made do well enough.

After two months on site, Charlotte's engineering reviews of the site indicated what seemed a potential expansion of the site. Not wanting to get anyone's hopes up without better empirical proof, Charlotte asked Hans and her closest friend, her tent-mate Sheila to join her on their next day off, to explore this area. Ground-Penetrating Radar had turned up nothing, but the lay of the foundation lines indicated the walls continued beyond their currently visible limitations. After a few hours' work clearing away dust and examining the markings along the floor and walls, it was Charlotte who discovered a series of stones set in both the nearby floor and the wall which acted as toggle switches. Depressed in the right order and to the correct depths, these released a trap plate, allowing sand trapped inside to flow into another space, causing large stone gears to shift the section of the wall out of the way.

Beyond said shifting wall was found another passageway, leading to a small recessed chamber. Having discovered the opening and documented their work, Charlotte, Hans and Sheila presented their findings to the heads of the dig teams and the local authorities, and arranged to shift around work staff to painstakingly map out and document everything they had found. Though Charlotte was only too happy to share the credit for her find with her friends, they made it quite clear that all credit should go to Charlie, and the heads of the dig teams made clear note of her exceptional work, placing her in charge of the crews set to work this new segment of the dig site starting the next day.

While the construction of this new chamber was clearly a match to the rest of the site, symbologies of murals, mosaics and other pieces found within seemed to be a mix, with some matching the surrounding site, but some of a very different vein. These were closely and carefully documented, with tracings, digital stills and digital video using specially shielded light sources so as not to ruin the pieces found. Great efforts were spent by the teams to seek out matching of these new symbol sets with those better known sets from the rest of the dig, so as to attempt to build a translation matrix.

On the third day of exploration of the new chamber, a possibly mobile or removable floor segment was discovered. Mapping this out carefully, the team determined where the balance points of the large stone segment should be, and then found what appeared to be another series of concealed stone 'switches'. Following the same logic Charlotte had used for the entrance, they were able to map out the right pattern, and the sand shifted, causing the stone segment to drop on one end, raising to display a perfectly preserved ceramic box beneath. But when the ceramic box was documented in place and finally moved, stones beneath it shifted. Other stones could be felt to shift, and then the passageway between the first concealing wall segment and the chamber began to shake.

Acting as quickly as she could, Charlotte gathered her team and ushered them quickly towards the exit. They moved as quickly as they could, but Charlotte turned back, trying to reach the ceramic box so as not to lose it as the site collapsed. Her last act as the ceiling and walls of the passage collapsed was to order Hans to run, rather than return to her, not wishing to see him crushed or trapped inside with her. As everything settled to stillness once more, Charlotte was trapped in the silent darkness of the chamber, all alone.

Rather than allow herself to give in to fear, Charlotte moved towards where she remembered the supplies and gear being, and sought out, on hands and knees, some of the special lighting units. She knew their batteries would not last forever, but she thought perhaps if she used them sparingly, one at a time, they might allow her some light while she waited for a possible rescue team from the outside. Meanwhile, to keep her mind off of her predicament she concentrated instead on the ceramic box they had found. Ever the scholar she made sure to document it in detail with tracings, photos and video. Then she very gently opened the lid. Within she found an ancient oilskin, still supple and mobile despite what seemed surely to have been at least a few thousand years. She very gently opened the skin, documenting each movement. Revealed within lay a most unusual amulet.

The piece, on close examination, proved to be a metal casement purposefully designed to fit around and support a single large crystal of an azure blue. The crystal seemed to be a single piece, showing no obvious toolmarks, in a three-dimensional and perfectly balanced 'starburst' shape. The metallic case seemed to be silver, but later metallurgical analysis would show that it was not, and would fail to yield a proper identification of its nature or origin. It was shaped so as to hold, surround and dull most of the radiating points of the starburst shape that would point back into the chest of a wearer of the amulet, and those on the opposite, facing side save the single largest central spire. On the face and around the outer edge of the metallic casement were runes of a style closely matching those of the unknown variety found elsewhere in the chamber. These runes were dug into the surface of the metal, but then filled in with a clear crystalline material that similarly showed no apparent tool marks. Later analysis would prove that, impossible as it may seem, these runes were filled with diamond.

Fascinated and even a bit bedazzled, Charlotte examined the amulet - roughly the size of a child's closed fist - for quite a while, noting in written and audible form everything she discovered. Then she set about trying once more to develop a translation matrix for the symbols, using their pairings with known symbols elsewhere in the chamber. Though it in fact took several hours, Charlotte was able to develop a rough translation matrix, and found that - if she was correct - the symbols in the chamber told a story about a great heroic figure, a saviour of the people, protecting them for many years. Finally, as the great protector grew infirm with age and a final battle loomed ahead, he asked of his most trusted friend that should he fall, his friend take the 'star of heaven's light' from his body lest it fall into another's hands, and carry it away to be sealed where none might find it. Further work also translated the symbols on the amulet itself, which denoted a brief ritual which it said would 'bring down heaven's light to bless the bearer'.

Unbeknownst to Charlie until it was too late, she had actually translated the phrase of the ritual aloud as she puzzled it out.

What transpired next was amazing, and most bedazzling. It was not recorded on any of the equipment within the chamber, however. A brilliant silvery blue light welled up within the crystal of the amulet, and then expanded to envelop Charlie. As it did so, she heard the same voice, seemingly saying in dozens upon dozens of languages - only a handful of which she actually knew - words to the effect of 'goodness' or 'saviour'. As she felt and heard these words, she could then feel her own mind associating thoughts and words and images with these concepts, and felt a sort of pulling, flowing as her thoughts and responses seemed to be drawn out of her and into the amulet, or the force building within it. Moments later, the blinding light and confusion passed.

Charlotte could immediately tell something had changed. The amulet was no longer in her hands, but resting on her chest, hanging around her neck. She also soon could feel the slightest flutter of air across something that /was/ her, behind her back. She also found that while her latest light had actually gone out, she seemed able to see throughout the room with crystalline clarity, as though the chamber stood in full daylight. As she reached out, thinking to listen, wondering if a rescue team was soon on its way, she could suddenly sense them, gaining a sense of their concern and frustration as they battled against safety, rules, regulations and their own natural desire to preserve the site, and their profound need to reach and save Charlie herself.

Charlotte moved towards the cave-in, thinking that perhaps with her newfound vision she might be able to see clearly enough to move some of the stone out of the way and perhaps find a few key pieces that could be leveraged to create an escape. Yet as she reached out to move the stones, imagining they would be tremendously heavy, perhaps well beyond her ability to move them, she found them almost contemptuously easy to move. As she reached larger, heavier stones, she braced to move them and felt a warm rush through her body, and moving them became barely more difficult than had been the smaller pieces. In only a couple of minutes, Charlotte was able to clear her way to the original shifting wall that had hidden this passage before, and was clearly now sealing it off once more. Able now to read the symbols on the back of that wall as easily as she might an English poem, Charlotte followed the instructions carved there, moving back to the far side of the chamber and moving a few segments of stone in the ceiling to expose a passageway leading to the surface.

At several positions along the passageway as she continued, she would find more markings. Following their directions, she could then open additional passages, allowing her to go further, even as she heard other such barriers closing behind her. In a matter of half an hour, Charlotte emerged from the hillside above the dig site looking down upon it and the campsite beyond. The dig site's other work areas were dark save for the lights of the campsite, most of which had apparently been moved into the area surrounding the collapsed passageway that had previously entrapped Charlotte. She could see and even feel Hans himself leading the team still struggling and striving to move collapsed stones, carefully but with force, to clear the way to the wall segment and beyond. But as Charlotte began to move towards them ... her gaze finally fell upon her hand, then her arm ... and then back over her shoulder, seeing the long flowing mane of silvery hair, and large, mighty silvery wings protruding from her back. Gaping, astounded and confused, still Charlotte's mind could not help making the connection.

In her mind, 'goodness' and 'saviour' connected to one image above all others: an angel. Now here she stood, clearly much changed, apparently in the very form of an angel. She could now recognize that her earlier clear vision in the dark, her ease and facility with the language symbols she had only barely been able to translate before, and her increased physical prowess must all somehow stem from this transformation. Yet even as she grew concerned, the knowledge of her earlier translation came to her. With but another carefully worded stanza, she was once more surrounded by that brilliant energy ... and then she stood upon the bluff, once more simply Charlotte, nothing more. The amulet still about her neck.

Wanting nothing more than to rejoin humanity and her friends, Charlotte climbed down the hill and returned to them, explaining only that she had found a series of passageways out of the chamber below that led up into the hill, leaving out all mention of the amulet and the power she had discovered. She fell happily into the arms of Hans, and hugs were offered from several of her friends at the dig. With the immediate emergency of Charlotte's entombment now relieved, the frantic digging at the wall ceased and a break in the work was called, allowing everyone to celebrate and relax, while teams carefully mapped out the area looking for additional sinkholes, traps and instabilities. Charlotte herself helped with this, when she wasn't busy reminding herself just how good it felt to be alive. Hans was quite good to have around for that.

Two more months would pass before the chamber was opened safely once again. Able to retrieve the ceramic box and the oilcloth, Charlotte quite unselfishly and even thankfully returned the amulet to its proper place, putting aside what had happened, even coming to believe that it had been little more than a fevered imagining in her panicked state. The chamber's explorations completed, the dig teams assembled all of their many treasured discoveries, and prepared a caravan to depart the dig site and move to the closest large city with a local museum sufficient for the safekeeping of these treasures. Unlike prior generations, these archaeologists would be sure that the history of the peoples of this region would stay with them, so long as the learning from them would be shared. With her own term on the dig now complete, Charlotte was spending as much time with Hans as she could, realizing they would soon be parted. Hans would be staying at the dig for another several months before returning to Germany. But their hope was to be reunited within the year, as soon as Charlotte's doctoral thesis was completed.

It was only the third day of cataloging the finds at the museum when suddenly chaos erupted. Gunfire rang out and battle quickly ensued. Largely unarmed and unarmored, the scholars could do little to defend themselves beyond dive for cover and hide, as a large group of heavily armed men stormed the museum. Trembling in terror, hiding behind a pillar in the basement, Charlotte was covered by Hans himself with the gentle giant's own body. It was in this position that she felt the terrible jerks from Hans, as bullets slammed into his massive frame, and she watched as the life slowly drained from his body. Horrified and crying, she held his face in her hands, pleading with him to survive, even as he offered with his last breath words that may well haunt her to the very end of her days: "I love you, my angel."

It was that word, angel, which brought her out of her pained reverie. Glancing around Hans, seeing that the armed goons seemed to have moved on to secure any other resistance, Charlotte took a terrible chance and ran for the artifacts lying on a nearby table. There lay the ceramic box, and within it, the oilskin and the amulet. At that moment, her one thought was that if it had all been merely her imagination, at least she would die and join Hans. But if in fact it had been real, perhaps she would find that as the angel she would have the power to heal Hans. And so she broke cover, grabbed the amulet, and recited the stanza that activated its power.

As before, the mighty power within, whatever its origin, called out to Charlotte and took form from the answer that cried out within her. Moments later the young archaelogist and doctoral candidate was replaced with the mighty form of the silvery angel. The light and sound of this was enough to draw the attackers back to the basement rooms, whether to seize their goods or to finish off any further resistance. But they never truly had a chance. At the sight of those who had taken Hans from her and from the world, a great anger welled up within the angel-formed woman, and a mighty blade of shimmering silvery energy took shape in her hands, and she beset about her with that blade like a mighty angel of terrible vengeance and final justice.

Witnesses later said that at least a few of the attackers did escape, but none did so unharmed. Quite a few never left that place until the body bags of coroners appeared. Charlotte did feel the sting of their weapons, but they did little enough that she did not slow until there were none remaining upon which to vent her anger. Sickened a bit by what she had done, she banished the blade from her hands and reached out instead for Hans, willing with all her heart and mind to heal her gentleman giant. Unfortunately, she instead touched him and knew instantly that the man she loved was gone, leaving behind nothing but the empty shell. Weeping for that loss and her own horror and confusion, the angelic form stepped free of the museum and took flight, seen only be a few but remarked upon by each who did: Heaven's justice had befallen these vile thieves and desecrators.

Hours later, the blood-splattered and still weeping form of Charlotte Englewood was found in an alleyway nearby to the museum and returned to the museum staff. Sadly, Charlie herself would be the only survivor of the incident from the dig teams. She would spend many weeks helping to arrange the identification of her fallen friends and colleagues, and seeing that each was sent home to his or her family. She would also spend that time assisting the museum staff in finally assembling a full inventory of the treasures from the dig. The amulet Charlotte chose to keep herself, rather than returning it. She decided that it was her destiny to take up this power and try to use it well and wisely. She surmised that had she kept it earlier, she would have been able to save Hans, and possibly others of their friends. In the memory of their terrible loss, she would strive to do better in the future. The amulet was simply assumed to have been stolen, along with a few other small items that came up missing.

With her grim duties now at an end, Charlotte gathered her things, along with a few momentoes of her fallen friends and colleagues, and she returned to Cambridge to finish her dissertation and defense. The only diversion she allowed herself was to travel to Trostberg for Hans' funeral, and to finally bid a tearful final farewell to the man who had come to mean so much to her in so short a time. Six months later, with her doctorate completed, Charlotte returned to the United States to take a post with the Museum of Natural History in Colonial Bay as a junior curator for their ancient cultures segment, whilst also assuming a post as an adjunct professor at Colonial Bay University, including ongoing research in magic and mysteries of the ancient world, rewriting modern understandings of history and social development. Meanwhile, she began to use the power of the amulet to assume the form of the silvery angel - whom she has named 'Silverwing' for obvious reasons - to lend aid and assistance in and around the area infrequently.

Charlotte
This is a young woman, appearing at most in her mid-twenties, with a compact and trim build well suited to her mere few inches above five feet. She is a brunette with serviceably short medium brown hair in a sweeping bob clearly intended more for ease of maintenance than for appearance, though it is not unattractive. Her eyes are a hazel shade, alternating between a medium brown and a muddy green depending on her mood, often situated behind a pair of small wire-frame glasses. Her skin is a warm nut brown shade, indicating a great deal of time spent out of doors, but she is not yet showing the signs of wear and tear sure to appear later in life.

She is currently dressed in a pair of well-worn but still servicable kahki slacks, with a lightweight thin cotton khaki-colored short-sleeved button-down blouse with dual breast pockets. A wide, heavy leather belt girds her waist, clearly intended for function, not appearance. She is wearing a pair of modern hiking boots on her feet. A soft white fedora with a tan band rests on her head, and a small black backpack is on her back. She wears no apparent jewelry, though with her blouse done up so high, she could have a necklace hidden beneath and it would go unseen.

Silverwing
This visibly feminine figure is tremendously tall, standing in excess of seven feet, with the sort of full trim curves usually reserved for artist's renderings, dreams, fantasies or mythic figures. And mythic is a good way to describe the impact of her angelic appearance, dominated by massive silvery feathered wings that spring from her back and arch high over even her head and sweep down to her ankles when folded. She quite literally lights up the room, surrounded by a silvery-blue nimbus of light that seems to come from within, glinting off a voluminous mane of silver hair that cascades down over her shoulders and back, framing a smooth and unlined, unmarked oval face with high cheekbones and aristocratic features. Thin silver eyebrows arch expressively over eyes like metallic silver marbles set in her sockets, lacking white, iris and pupil entirely. Her otherworldly beauty continues with a long, sculpted neck, broad and powerful shoulders which support a bountiful bust and emphasize the smallness and flat quality of her trim waist, which in turn emphasizes the tight curves of her wide hips and her long, flowing legs.

The angel's beauty and bounty is contained within a rather striking skintight affair that leaves as its only mystery the question of how she ever managed to put it on. High-necked stark and perfect white stretches down the arms to the wrists and down the torso and over the hips, down long and flowing legs, disappearing into the tops of simple silvery boots that reach mid-calf. This white is broken up by a wide silver stripe going up the outside of each arm from wrist to shoulders, where this joins with a silver swath proceeding down the majority of the center of the torso from base of neck to waist, where a wide silver belt lacking any visible clasp encircles her waist. From here, the silver proceeds along the center and the insides of her thighs and legs to reach the boots. This definitely seems to give the angel a 'superheroine' styling.