POLARIS (bio)

^^ Probably my favorite of her many costumes.

BEFORE READING: note that anything having to do with M-Day has NOT happened in SL sim canon. This is all just told as it is in the comics really, but if you are thinking how she is in the sim, remove M-Day, & there you go.

POLARIS (Lorna Dane) is a member of the X-Men. A mutant, Polaris can control magnetism. Magneto is her biological father. She has had a complicated long term relationship with the X-Man Havok (Alex Summers), to whom she was once engaged, as well as a slightly less long relationship with Bobby Drake (Ice-man) who she is currently romantic with. As the daughter of Magneto she is the half sister of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Polaris & her longtime love interest Havok have had a love/hate relationship with the X-Men, often finding themselves roped into it.

"Good & bad often come wrapped up in the same package, don't they? We just lean one direction or the other, depending on circumstances and personality." --Lorna Dane

"Then this is how the world ends. In rage & blood & fire." --Lorna Dane

"I don't want you to die, Charles. I want change for the better NOW, not after you're dead & martyred. You're our mentor & our teacher & our father. You mean everything to all of us. We love you. I love you. Can't you even fight for your own survival?" --Lorna Dane

*POWERS & ABILITIES*

-Magnetic Force-Fields: Polaris can protect herself from physical harm, can stretch her fields to protect a large group, and can suspend persons or objects in the air.

-Magnetic Flight: Polaris can suspend herself in flight by riding the Earth's magnetic field.

-ElectroMagnetic Sight: By concentrating, Polaris can perceive the world around herself solely as patterns of magnetic and electrical energy. She can perceive the natural magnetic auras surrounding living beings, as well.

-Magnetic Pulse: Polaris can focus her magnetic energy into powerful concussive blasts. She can also overload or short-circuit electrical systems. She has destroyed Shi'ar warships with single magnetic pulses.

-Energy Absorption: Polaris can absorb some forms of energy through her magnetic force fields to temporarily boost her own strengths. Early in her carreer with the X-Men, she absorbed Storm's lightning blast, Cyclops' eye beam, and Havok's energy beam at the same time, giving her enough strength to propel an entire island from the earth and into space.

-Healing Factor: Lorna's secondary mutation, which helps in fighting off toxins, drugs, & poisons. While it remains unclear in the comics how Lorna's compares to that of Wolverine, it is a significant damper in comparison to someone without this regenerative ability.

Polaris' mutant powers enable her to sense and control magnetism, including manipulating metals which are susceptible to that force. She can also manipulate the Earth's magnetic field to allow herself to fly, generate magnetic energy pulses, and create force fields. She has bright green hair, the first indication of her mutation. She contains all of the powers that Magneto has, including the manipulation of magnetic, electrical, and gravitic fields. Polaris has been observed levitating metallic objects and creating force fields in which she can suspend persons or objects in the air and in which she can protect them from attacks from outside the fields. She can also overload or short-circuit electrical systems.

The main feat made possible by magnetokinesis is Polaris' ability to lift and manipulate metal. She has shown such fine tuned skills as to nearly liquify, mend, and reconstruct metallic objects, and has some level of influence on the ferrous metals that reside in everything. She once mended and reconstructed silverwear and metallic plates into a metallic suit identical to Magneto's costume. She has also rendered a mass crowd unconscious by reversing the flow of blood in every individual by controlling the natural iron in their blood

Her personal polarity is opposite that of Magneto's.

Polaris was among the mutants depowered by Scarlet Witch during the House of M, and as such lost her natural mutant powers. However, due to Apocalypse's manipulations, Celestial technology was hardwired into her nervous system (as well as her skull and spine) which gradually re-powered her (though it has not been confirmed if it is the Celestial Tech or her healing factor, or what, that repowered her. All that is confirmed is that she is a mutant once more).

The limits of her magnetic powers are unknown. In Uncanny X-Men #476, she is referred to as one of the biggest threats of the current team by the opposing Shi'ar Imperial Shockers.

In the "Emperor Vulcan" storyline it became obvious that her power level is significantly heightened, as she shields the Starjammer against the attacks of a whole fleet of starships and was shown to directly destroy at least one enemy battleship with a magnetic blast.

She can also fight off toxins and drugs much quicker than normal.

After being released from Apocalyse's control, Emma Frost noted that Polaris' powers seemed to be mutating.

Lorna had gained some sort of healing factor that helps her fight off toxins and poisons, as well as aids her in recovering more quickly than usual. This is her secondary mutation, and it became evident while she was being tortured by Vulcan.

Lorna possesses expertise in geophysics, and has earned a Masters degree in that field.

*BACKSTORY*

Lorna Dane was adopted weeks after her birth and did not learn of her adoption until she was nearly twenty years old. She was raised a Catholic, another similarity she shares with Havok, but neither of them took this into their adulthoods.

Lorna was born with green hair, which she always kept dyed brown so that she would not be seen as "different." Her hair color was the only outward sign of her latent genetic potential for magnetic powers. Samuel "Starr" Saxon had constructed an android duplicate of Magneto, who was believed dead at the time, and an android army called the Demi-Men. Saxon's plans were to use these androids to accumulate wealth and power, while deceiving the world into believing them to be examples of evil mutants.

Saxon sought mutants to help lead his army while he gave directions through the Magneto robot. First, Saxon had the robot Magneto recruit the hypnotic mutant Mesmero. Then, Saxon decided that a mutant who was a natural source of vast magnetic power would be useful in dealing with his metal robot army. Saxon acquired a "psyche-generator" which Mesmero used to summon mutants in North America with latent powers to San Francisco, and the nearest such mutant was Lorna. Mesmero captured her and placed her inside a genetic stimulator, which awakened her latent powers. Mesmero then hypnotized Lorna to alter her personality so that she would sympathize with the faux Magneto and believe him to be her father.

Shortly afterwards, Mesmero dropped his control over Lorna, assuming she would obey her supposed father. Contrarily, after it was revealed to her that Magneto was not her father, Lorna assisted the X-Men in defeating the villains. Lorna joined the X-Men, and was romantically inclined towards her teammate Iceman. Eventually, Lorna fell in love with Havok. Neither Lorna nor Alex (Havok) wished to lead lives as costumed adventurers, and after discovering a mutual interest in geophysics they left the team and began doctoral research in the Diablo mountain range.

They settled in New Mexico, completed their degrees, and occasionally - and reluctantly - aided their former teammates. The pair’s idyllic lifestyle was interrupted when they found themselves hunted by the Marauders. Lorna was possessed by the psionic entity known as Malice, who forced Lorna to attack Alex and the X-Men as the Marauders' leader.

Malice's hold on Lorna weakened and she was able to contact the X-Men for help. However, they arrived too late to save Lorna from being kidnapped by Zaladane, a priestess from the Savage Land. Zaladane claimed to be Lorna's sister, and transferred Lorna's powers to herself, purging her of Malice's presence in the process. As a result, Lorna developed alternate powers, including superhuman strength and nigh-invulnerability, as well as the ability to practically cause negative emotions in others.

Lorna's new powers drew the attention of the psionic being known as the Shadow King, who used Lorna as a gateway to allow him access to Earth from the astral plane. The X-Men defeated the Shadow King and, after Zaladane was killed by Magneto, Lorna's magnetic powers were restored.

Lorna was recruited into the new government-sponsored X-Factor where she was at long last reunited with Alex. She became a mainstay of the team, and also became the government's secret weapon against a possible attack by Magneto. Malice returned to plague Lorna once more, but she and Alex attempted to absorb her, preventing the other from being possessed. In the end, Malice perished at the hands of her master, Mister Sinister.

X-Factor was forced by the government to employ the renowned mutant criminals Mystique and Sabretooth, and Alex seemingly went rogue. As a result, Lorna began to question her place on the team, and her fears were eventually justified after Sabretooth broke free and ran amok. Alex eventually revealed his true plan to stop the sinister machinations of the alternate reality counterpart of the X-Men's Beast, and Lorna forgave him for his actions. However, she could no longer trust him and so called off their relationship. Lorna rejoined X-Factor only to watch as Alex was seemingly killed in an aircraft explosion.

Weeks later, Lorna encountered Nightcrawler in a church. She confided in him that she was sure Alex was still alive and that she felt as if she were being followed. A group of shape-shifting alien Skrulls, who were working with Apocalypse, had been following her, and they broke into her apartment to retrieve the headgear from Alex’s original costume. Lorna learned that she was one of the fabled Twelve, destined to usher in a new golden age for mutantkind. Alongside the X-Men, she travelled to Egypt to battle Apocalypse. During the encounter, Magneto, another member of the Twelve, found that he could use Lorna to tap into the Earth's magnetic field with incredible force, effectively hiding his current reduced-power state.

After Apocalypse was defeated, Lorna travelled with Magneto to the island nation of Genosha to keep him empowered. Genosha was a nation that enslaved mutants, & Magneto took it upon himself to overthrow the government with Lorna's help. It was at this time that Magneto gave her training in the use of her abilities, & she learned more about the nature of her powers from him. She gained more knowledge in accessing her full potential. When Magneto decided to use Lorna's powers to wipe out the last city that was not under his control she decided to try to stop him from using technology to restore his damaged x-gene, but was defeated by him. Lorna left only to return later to help the Genoshan people, opposing Magneto's tyrannical rule. The island of Genosha was then attacked by Sentinels. Lorna was one of the few survivors but left scarred because she was not able to stop the robots and sat there witnessing the murder of millions of mutants. When Magneto recorded the thoughts of the entire population's final moments as digital signals in a black box, Lorna became "possessed" by the "ghosts" of Genosha. She then constructed a monument in honor of Magneto. The X-Men would go to Genosha to aid anyone that survived, upon their arrival they discover Lorna walking around naked and weak.

Later, some of the X-Men went to Genosha to survey what occurred there. They encountered a nude and unhinged Polaris some time after its population was massacred by Cassandra Nova's Sentinels. When Polaris rejoined the X-Men, the extremely traumatic experience had left her with a darker, more ruthless personality, even killing some members of the anti-mutant Church of Humanity. Havok broke up with Polaris after they were about to be married, leaving her for the nurse Annie Ghazikhanian. Traumatized and humiliated, the unstable Polaris went berserk and commenced to go on a rampage that nearly resulted in her killing Alex. Juggernaut succeeded in knocking her out, though only temporarily. She remained this way until some psychic therapy with Professor Xavier. Polaris promised to do no more harm and she was accepted back to the X-Men.

Polaris also told the X-Men that she had discovered that Magneto was her true father after all. Before the destruction of Genosha, she had a blind genetic test performed and this demonstrated her real paternity.

Iceman later admitted to Polaris that he still had feelings for her and the two began a relationship. It was not to last, however, since Lorna's relationship with Havok was still unresolved. Havok confessed to still loving her after Annie had left him.

It was revealed that Polaris had lost her powers on M-Day, but had avoided telling her teammates. When confronted by Valerie Cooper, who had knowledge of her power loss, Polaris claimed that her power loss was psychological and she believed she was preventing herself from using them. Polaris eventually was forced by circumstance to accept that her powers were gone and admit the fact to the rest of the team - whereupon all the other members of her squad, except her would-be-paramours Iceman and Havok, revealed to her that they had already guessed it. She then left the mansion with Havok to "search" for her lost powers, irrationally convinced they lay with an alien named Daap, a seeming twin to the deceased X-Statix member Doop, who she had seen on a recent mission in space. Daap soon crashed to Earth and kidnapped Polaris and the Leper Queen, the leader of the anti-mutant group known as the Sapien League.

Apocalypse took them both, restrained the Leper Queen, and forcibly transformed Polaris into the new Pestilence. Seemingly mind-wiped, she ingested viruses from the World Health Organization and was attempting to create a meta-plague. In the climatic battle between the X-Men, the Avengers, and Apocalypse, Wolverine discovered a choking Pestilence was Lorna. She was recovering in the X-Mansion when Gambit and Sunfire returned to take her away. She arose and refused to go with them. Polaris decided to leave that night to search for Apocalypse in Egypt. She went alone and was later hunted until Havok and the new Uncanny X-Men team saved her. Emma Frost noted that her powers were mutating, and that Apocalypse fused unknown technology to Lorna's nervous system to replicate her lost magnetic powers.

After being rescued from an anti-Apocalypse cult by the new team, Polaris agreed to join Professor X, Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Nightcrawler, and Warpath on their mission to stop Vulcan. Her relationship with Havok is still developing. In Uncanny X-Men 484, Polaris seems to finally show concrete signs of forgiving Havok, telling him to "just shut up and kiss me" after the team won their first battle against the entire regiment of Shi'ar soldiers in their beginning struggle against D'Ken and in support of Lilandra. Although Havok initially rebuffs her advances, hesitant to "start up again after" everything that happened between them, Lorna says that he needs to "blow off some steam" and the scene ends with them kissing.

Following the death of Corsair at the hands of Vulcan, Polaris joined the Starjammers, intending to kill Vulcan and restore Lilandra Neramani to the Shi'ar throne. Their mission proved unsuccessful and Polaris along with Havok, Ch'od, and Raza were held prisoner on an underwater planet by Vulcan. While being tortured, it is revealed that -as Emma had mentioned- Lorna had gained some sort of healing factor that helps her fight off toxins and poisons, as well as aids her in recovering more quickly than usual. Vulcan ordered her to be heavily drugged so they could further study it. She was later freed by Havok and the other Starjammers who vowed to kill Vulcan. Her mutant abilities are once again natural, whether with help from this healing factor or not remains unclear.

Polaris is held under constant sedation while imprisoned, due to the Shi'ar's inability to deal with her powers. With the help of Lilandra, Lorna and the other prisoners are eventually freed. She and the Starjammers escape to Kree-space, where Lorna discovers that her sister-in-law and good friend, Crystal, is being wed to Ronan the Accuser, a move meant to solidify ties between the Inhumans and the Kree. When the wedding is disrupted by the invading Shi'ar, and Lilandra captured, Lorna participates in a rescue attempt which concludes with them freeing Lilandra and bringing the powerful Gladiator to their side.

As the war between Kree and Shi'ar escalates, Polaris and the Starjammers participate in an attempted political coup by Lilandra on the throne world of Chandrilar. She is a horrified witness when Lilandra is killed in the ensuing chaos.

Through Ch'od, and apparently due to the incident of Rachel and Korvus both loosing the connection to the Phoenix Force, it is known that Polaris, Havok, Rachel and Korvus have departed for Earth. (Though as of this writing, in the SL sim canon/continuity, Lorna has arrived alone, for reasons yet to be decided OOC)