Mother of Exiles (Freedom)
- This is the player character, Mother of Exiles. For other uses, see Mother of Exiles.
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Mother of Exiles
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In-game Biography:
“The New Colossus”
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Emma Lazarus, 1883
Elizabeth Icon, born Hawaii, 1915, daughter of a powerful American plantation owner. Began growing wings in July of 1930 and her skin turned green patina. When Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, her skin was a living metal. Using new found powers she enlisted to fight in the Pacific Theater.
Today, Paragon City welcomes the ageless hero.
Extended Biography:
Elizabeth Icon was born in Hawaii to a powerful American coffee plantation owner in 1915. Her family would be instrumental in getting Hawaii ready to petition the islands for statehood in 1959. Liz grew up a typical child in a rich family. She was never without want, but her family kept her humble.
Liz was sent to the new Royal Elementary School on the island. Destined to run the business, at the age of eight her parents sent her into the fields on weekends to work alongside the laborers. It was in the fields she learned of the other plantations using a form of serfdom of immigrants to maintain a stranglehold on the populace. Her family’s forward thinking views were shunned by most of the other land holders. It is also, where her fierce pursuit of justice and loyalty would be honed.
She learned of the other plantation owners used the immigrants for cheap labor and held enough political power in the United States to keep their illegal labor force from changing. Only a small number of families treated their workers right. These outcasts, refugees, and exiles were being abused by an unjust system. Over the next few years, she would see how corrupt and unfair the system was to the laborers.
In July of 1930 her world began to turn upside down. She began growing wings and her skin turned a green patina. Her parents looked for a cure and she was sent to a private school. After a year she withdrew to the plantation where the best tutors were found to teach her. Doctors were at a complete loss to explain the condition. Locals began to whisper in the shadows that Liz was a kapua and the daughter of Pele the goddess of fire and lightning, and Kūkailimoku, a feather-god. The locals actually thought it was a good sign, and she was destined for great things. They gave her the nickname Mana Loa (Great Power.)
When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, her skin had turned into a living metal. Liz took to the air and tried to repel the invading air forces. Being completely outnumbered and moving a bit slower then the aircraft, her defense of the island seemed inadequate in her eyes. It was battling in the skies above Hawaii that her other powers emerged. Liz found she had the ability to completely manipulate the heat in her new body. She could radiate all of it instantly creating ice, or intensify it creating fire. She was even able to pull the heat out of the surrounding area. In addition, she seemed to be able generate large amounts of electricity, electrifying her skin, thereby strengthening the metal through a magnetic cohesion. Against the machine guns of the Japan’s air force, it saved her life.
After the bombing, she found out her immediate family had been killed in the raid. When the U.S. declared was on Japan she was among the first to join the metahumans in the Pacific theater. Liz took the attack personal, becoming obsessed with vengeance, and pushed her powers to new limits. She dropped her real name and adopted her nickname Mana Loa. Under the leadership of Captain Volcano, she fought against the Lord of Frosts and the Imperial Wind, Japan’s super soldiers. When Captain Volcano dies at the hand of Elizabeth Icon, Lord of Frosts in 1945, she only then realized the mistake of becoming so obsessed with personal vendettas. A lesson she learned all too well.
A year later she stood with other heroes of the war at Liberty Island as they received praise and a commendation from the President. It was her first trip to the mainland and she became fascinated by the Statue of Liberty and how the color of her skin matched that of Lady Liberty’s. Marveling at the symbol of freedom, she felt her soul stir with patriotism.
After the fiasco of her former commander with Imperial Wind she decided to dedicate her life in the service of her country, and guarantee the proper pursuit of justice would endure. Never would she let personal feelings guide her actions. Inspired by the bronze plaque inside the monument she adopted the name, Mother of Exiles. She swore to defend those that could not help themselves. Liz would protect all who needed protecting. She wanted to become the beacon and hope all citizens could look too in dark times. It was that day the Prussian Prince of Automatons attacked.
When Nemesis was defeated, Liz returned to Hawaii determined to see the U.S. territory as a state. It was one last thing her mother and father wanted for the island. She felt she could then pursue her service to country with a full heart and clean slate.
In 1950, the National Guard Order, approached her asking for some help against the Warsaw Pact. She expressed her wish to see Hawaii as a state and they said that her service would shed a good light on that proposition. Liz again left her island, and took up the new mantle of Mother of Exiles. With here experience in World War II, she was given a small squad of heroes to command. She fought over the world in the name of her country, even covertly.
When 1959 arrived she was at President Dwight D. Eisenhower side when he signed the Hawaii Admission Act. Soon after Hawaii’s vote on statehood the CIA tapped the Mother of Exiles.
When the Might for Right Act was ruled unconstitutional in 1967, Liz took a long needed vacation. After a month, it was cut short when she realized covert agents were being left out in the field while corrupt bureaucrats dragged their feet to get them clear of operations. She worked hard for three years to ensure everyone had been accounted for.
The FBI tapped Mother in 1970, to lead a quick response unit in the Pacific with the capability to deploy anywhere in the world with two hours. Liz monitored, tracked, and even took part in secret skirmishes against the Soviet Union and the super-soldiers. When the commander of the Defenders of the Motherland hit Statesman with a tactical nuke over Finland, Mother of Exiles and her team were among the first to arrive at the devastation and recovered the injured hero.
The conflict escalated as all the super powers went on alert. Mother suddenly found her and her team protecting a secret satellite the U.S. was readying to launch. Members of Freedom Phalanx and Dawn Patrol organized to take out a Russian first strike against the satellite and the satellite itself; Mother found herself facing off against what she considered traitors. Even her team stepped aside to allow the heroes through, but Mother did not back down. A lowly boot private fresh from training held his post at the site and he stood his ground against the overwhelming odds.
While the heroes would prove successful, it was not without a cost. Mother seriously injured many of them. From then on, she held no respect for Statesman and his super group of traitors. She attempted to bring the heroes up on charges, but there was enough political backing to delay the charges. She dishonorably discharged her former team members for dereliction of duty and disobeying a direct command. She was brought up on charges of unlawful orders. Her connections were going to bury the accusation, but she decided to face a jury of her peers. She was found not guilty.
Mother of Exiles set out to rebuild her team. Her first choice was the private that stood with her against the Freedom Phalanx. She had him assigned to her and she admitted him into what remained of the Army’s super soldier program. The private would take up the mantle, Oathguard, and spend the next twenty years under her command, running various other special operation programs in the process.
After the Second Rikti War, it was become evident to Mother and others that Paragon City seems to be a nexus for super powered issues, in one form or another. Homeland Security gets approval to form its own super group after the death of there own agent, Stateside. They petition Mother who agrees to form the group. Homeland Security creates Judicial Imperium of the National Guard Order.
J.I.N.G.O.’s charter is to prevent national security issues within Paragon City from spilling into the rest of the country, or the world. The have broad authority to conduct operations on any hard targets that begin in the city, and threaten homeland security.
