Name: Samantha McManus
Codename: Morrigan
Age: 35 (Apparent age early 20's)
Powers: Samantha is a potent telepath and shapeshifter, with the two powers being very closely linked. Early in her development this made her an entirely empathic shapeshifter, her body changing involuntarily due to the thoughts of those around her. As her telepathic ability has matured her control over her form has correspondingly grown greater, with the eventual revelation that she forms her body much as a more conventional telepath forms a mental avatar. She is presently capable of nearly any biologically conceivable form, as well as substantial increases and decreases in size, as well as splitting her body into multiple forms.
As her powers have grown, her mentality has had to shift significantly to accomodate, her psyche having split into a vast gestalt landscape of literally hundreds of mythological figures and Jungian archetypes. The dominant figures in this dizzying pantheon are the three Morrigu, the faces of the death-goddess Morrigan. As a result her Astral presence is always marked by an enormous flock of ravens.
Personality: In spite of her private psychological difficulties, Samantha has managed to find an even balance between the various aspects of her mindscape, forming a functioning whole on the surface. She is rather approachable to students, and encourages their involvement in campus events and issues. She is highly active in political advocacy, having used her celebrity status to interview with a number of magazines and television shows to keep awareness of mutant issues at the fore of public discourse. She favors integration of human and mutant populations to fight ignorance on both sides, and believes giving mutants a stake in the community and the government is key to encouraging them to work for the public good.
Description: Samantha is of average height, with ginger hair, green eyes and pale freckled skin. She dresses fairly formally in pantsuits when in professional situations, and favors jeans and t-shirts or turtlenecks in more casual ones. Samantha has a leather trenchcoat she is rather fond of, as well as an impressive array of clubwear. She does not look at all as old as she really is, and indeed hasn't aged a day in quite some time. There are some rumors that this is no longer her true form, a topic which she is rather uncomfortable discussing.
Background: Samantha is a former superhero. Having done stints with X-Corporation abroad, the X-Men at the Salem campus, and a number of years with the Avengers, she is a well-known face with the media. However she has left active duty for the time being, having leveraged her high visibility into publicity for X-Corporation and her pet issues. She was at one time in the past romantically involved with Domanic Taylor, though they've never truly managed to mend fences, let alone get back together. Having chosen to be a part of the new London campus faculty, she teaches advanced techniques in telepathy as well as a class on the psychological and mythological aspects of Astral imagery. She is one of the joint lecturers in the University's seminar class on mutant politics and advocacy.
