Edna Mansen
Edna is the wife of Denver Mansen and mother of Derk Mansen. It is said she was a brilliant geneticist and biochemist in her youth, but ceased active study and research 50 years ago for unknown reasons. She has not been seen publicly for nearly 20 years and is generally believed dead, though there are rumours to the contrary.
History
Edna was born in a land far from Taebur, across the far western sea. Born to a wealthy pure-strain human family, she received the best education available, specializing in genetics and biochemistry. She took a particular interest in mutation: how it occurred, how it worked, and how it might even be reversed. She began spending time among the mutants who lived in the outskirts of her community, offering her services as a doctor. She also began experimenting with ways to cure mutations, particularly the negative ones. This made her something of an outcast from her family, who did not approve of her spending time amongst "the unclean". However, she became very popular amongst the mutant population, particularly when she began having some success in alleviating some of the worst forms of negative mutation. Many people began calling her "Bruja" and there would be lengthy line-ups outside her clinic every day, as people hoped she would be able to treat them or their children. Despite her popularity, rumours began to circulate about the people under her care who didn't make it. While most people accepted that there was a risk to her treatments, some began to say that many of the deaths were deliberate. The stories said her methods of treatment (which many saw as near magical) required sacrifice to work. For every five or ten or twenty she saved, one would have to be sacrificed. Despite these stories, she remained popular and her services sought after. One day, she met a young man, Denver Mansen, who was studying bioengineering. He was interested in her work and soon became her assistant. Not long later, they began a love affair and were eventually married. But this was when Edna's fortunes began to take a turn. When Edna gave birth to a highly mutated daughter (despite both she and Denver being completely without mutation), she knew something was wrong. Locals also saw it as some form of divine punishment, believing that the gods had deemed her work blasphemous. Fewer and fewer came to her for treatment and her family stopped providing her with money. She had only been charging her patients whatever they wished to give, so she now had only Denver's money to continue her work and research, which while substantial, did not cover all the extremely expensive work she was doing. There were also many attempts on her life and the lives of Denver and their daughter, Isabelle. Edna also discovered the reason for Isabelle's mutations. At some point, Edna had inadvertantly exposed herself to an unknown mutagen and was now subject to a debiliating mutation that was turning her into a zombie-like being. The progress of the mutation was slow, but was getting faster. She turned her research to finding a way to cure herself, even at the expense of those in her community who still came to her for help. But all her work only held the mutation in check, but did not cure it. As Isabelle got older, she began to exhibit incredible musical abilities. Her voice could enchant others--rather literally. She began demonstrating powerful mental and psionic abilities capable of swaying others' opinions and even sometimes controlling them. This created a rift amongst the locals: one group of people fanatically loyal to 8-year-old Isabelle and the second, larger group determined to kill the family or drive them away. When Isabelle was nearly 10, Denver and Edna came up with a plan to leave their home and travel across the see to the fabled City of Cartoons, where they hoped to start a new life and be able to use the resources there to find a cure for Edna's condition. But when they reached the docks and were boarding the ship, they were attacked by a mob intent on their deaths. Edna and Denver escaped, but Isabelle was lost, and thought dead. In the City of Cartoons, Denver founded Mansen Bioworks (later Mansen Corporation), which soon became successful, and they began using profits to fund research into curing Edna. They had some early success when they developed a serum which allowed Edna to conceive a second child free of mutation, Derk. But a full cure continued to elude them. Eventually, Edna's mutation began to progress rapidly, despite the serums that, up till now, had been holding it at bay. Edna reached a state of near catatonia, and Denver handed control of his company over to their son so that he could focus full-time on curing Edna. Edna is now 90 and Denver doubts she will live much longer, but he refuses to give up as long as she still lives. And he is willing to do absolutely anything to cure her, no matter who or what has to be sacrificed to achieve it. But a new complication has arisen with the arrival of their daughter in Taebur. Not dead after all, Isabelle, now calling herself Old Mother wants revenge.Mental characteristics
Gender Identity
Female
Relationships
Year of Birth
8 AF
91 Years old
Family
Spouses
Denver Mansen
(spouse)
Siblings
Children
Pronouns
She/her/her
Eyes
White
Hair
White
Height
5'2"
