Lorelei
From Champions MUSH
| Lorelei |
|---|
|
| Alignment |
| Heroes |
| Public Identity |
| Stephie Dallimore |
| Affiliation |
| Spirit of Justice |
Lorelei is internationally known supermodel and actress, one of the most recognised faces in the world today. Lorelei was initially known as a superhero, but lately some doubt has been case on this status: it's uncertain whether she has any "real" superpowers, at least of a useful nature, or whether her superheroic role has been anything more than supportive. She was recently revealed as Stephie Dallimore, an 18-year-old high school cheerleader. Only a few people know that she still has a second identity, as Allure.
Contents |
Description
Lorelei's a gorgous blonde woman of unearthly beauty, 18 years old, though the assurance with which she carries herself bespeaks someone older. No part of her shapely 5'6" body is not alluring, but more striking still that almost her every movement seems an enticing pose such as photographers might spend hours coaxing out of a model. Wild shoulder-length hair frames her face, with its high cheekbones, pouty lips and dark sparkling eyes.
She might be seen in any number of outfits, but her "superhero costume" is a skintight shimmering green bodysuit partially cut away, leaving her left arm and shoulder are bare but for her glove, and her right leg but for her boot, with a light blue sash tied about her waist.
Somehow Lorelei now looks unmistakeably like both the old Lorelei and the old Stephie, yet vastly more beautiful than either of them.
Origin
Stephanie Dallimore, to use her full name, was born in Cambridge, England, on August 10th, 2039, the daughter of a lecturer in Biochemistry. Her mother, whom she remembers mostly for her smile, gentleness and warmth, died when she was 7, apparently in a traffic accident. Stephie's life after that was much sadder and lonelier; her father's work kept him busy, though he spent what time he could with her (she enjoyed the skiing vacations). She turned to reading and to writing to keep herself company: a plain and shy girl, she didn't make friends readily, and her only real friend was her neighbour Lucy. The loneliness only worsened as she grew interested in boys.
Her 16th birthday proved an especially hard day: first she heard that her father had got the post he'd applied for in Colonial Bay and they'd be moving within weeks, separating her from Lucy; then she was cruelly rejected by a boy named Eric on whom she'd had a crush for some time. That night she cried herself to sleep, wishing with all her soul that she weren't lonely, that she were so beautiful that people would want to be her friends, that Eric would want to be her boyfriend.
And somehow she woke up changed. At first she thought it might be some magic property of an old ring she'd found, or that she might be a mutant; she has since learned that it was nothing left than her heritage - her mother was fae. But the next morning she was beautiful, and grew rapidly more so over the next few days. The timing was fortuitous: her father helped her keep out of sight until the move, and by the time she arrived in Colonial Bay the her appearance was no longer changing rapidly, so she could maintain her secret.
Her father, however, still insisted that she should try to keep her new improved looks covered up, and so Stephie for a long time continued to appear a shy and insecure girl. Curiosity got the better of her, though, and she tried going out as "Lorelei". wearing revealing clothing, just to see what difference it would make. Soon she found herself involved with the superhero community, and found to her surprise that her appearance even made a viable superpower - and so Lorelei the superhero was born.
Powers
Whether Lorelei even has true superpowers - or at least powers that extend beyond simply looking good - has now publicly been called into doubt.
In truth, Lorelei's fae heritage gives her a number of powers which are not well understood. Most obviously, she is superhumanly beautiful - but more than that, she has an instinctive ability to use this beauty to devastating effect. Apart from her trademark "stunning poses", she can be incredibly persuasive, can cause people to notice nothing but her (or at least be a serious distraction), and can make people weak-willed or weak-minded. Given time she can, using no more than subtle looks, make people fall in love with her or form specific impressions of her based on her appearance. This last ability can work even over television, though its effects are much less controlled and apt not to work as intended (though Glamour, an other-Earth version of her, is know to have used this with success).
Though similar in effect to mental powers, none of these abilities is truly psionic. Nor does she have to see the targets of her powers: it suffices that they can see her. Her skills at affecting some people but not others with her abilities is due to an untrained use of the glamour magic natural to the fae - she shields others from seeing her full beauty - but she doesn't know this.
Her half-fae physiology also give her extraordinary regenerative abilities, and immunity to disease and aging and a decreased need for sleep. She also has the "second sight", enabling her to see through illusions.
Personality
Lorelei has come a long way in the past couple of years: when she now appears confident and outgoing, it's no longer entirely an act, as she's come to term with the new her and her abilities. Though she certainly still has self-doubt, especially in the matter of the ethics of the use of her powers, it seldom hampers her any more. She remains a kind person at heart, if a little at risk of being spoiled by the star treatment she now receives: she is after all still young, if mature for her age.
Lorelei is not a very religious person, but was raised as a Christian (Episcopalian), which has left her strongly opposed to the taking of life and generally informs her with a strong moral sense. This, the vague memory of a loving mother and the sound advice of her father have provided guidance in her life.
Though Lorelei is a very intelligent person she is trying to play this down considerably, having realised she can be more effective if underestimated.
Relations
Stephie's only close relative is her father, Dr. Quentin Dallimore, Professor of Biochemistry at CBSU; he has a brother living in England too, but they aren't close. She gets generally gets on well with him, though he is often busy with work; in June 2057 Stephie revealed her two other identities to him and he in exchange revelealed something of her past to her, which reduced the strain the appearance of Stephie's powers had put on their relationship. Stephie can barely remember her mother - not even her face - though she has fond memories of a warm and comforting presence.
In England, Stephie had only one close friend, Lucy Sayers; they keep in occasional email contact. Her close friends in Colonial Bay are generally mostly metas, though she is generally popular at the Colonial Heights High School, and has several friends among the cheerleaders.
Stephie dated Izzy Ignizuski until she broke up with him in December 2056. She briefly dated Logan Huntz after that, but for now remains curiously single. Lorelei has been romantically linked with Random Factor and (in varying degrees of plausbility) a number of other men by the tabloids. Lorelei has been known to comment, "I don't know who I'm dating: I haven't read the papers this week." That said, since June 2058 she has been seeing the tennis player Pavel Kuznetsov.
From August 2056 to September 2058, at the insistence of the Avalon Agency, Lorelei has had a bodyguard. After a couple of less successful choices, her regular bodyguard was Cliff Worth. Cliff was let go after being unfit for work for several months, and the agency has yet to replace him.
Stephie seems to have acquired a new enemy in the form of the Black King, an alchemist who uses fae blood in his work, and perhaps his granddaughter the Black Queen.
History
From her first outing as Lorelei, Stephie's life has taken some odd twists and turns. The first is that her Lorelei persona is older than she is - presumably about 22 - simply because she tried to see if she could get into a club in her Lorelei guise and then ended up helping some heroes there and so gained some publicity, and thus had to be 21.
After some unfortunate incidents Stephie's insecurities grew for a few months, but she managed in the end to try to adopt a different, more experimental approach to life to try to shake these off. She became a cheerleader in early 2056 and stopped hiding under baggy clothing, and became enormously more popular at school. She also became involved with the teen superhero team New Blood - but since she couldn't admit to them that she was the adult Lorelei, she did this under a second heroic identity, Allure.
Meanwhile Lorelei was "discovered" by the Avalon modeling agency, and she has become known more and more as a model - indeed most people now think of Lorelei much more as a supermodel than as a superhero. Since the Halo brand shampoo advertisements of August 2056 she has been known worldwide, and rumors abound that some other great advertising project is in the offing. Despite endless speculation, no nude photos of Lorelei seem to exist.
This school year Lorelei has been following a performing arts course of study at high school: a sudden break from her earlier more academic pursuits, to explore if her real talents lie in that direction.
In November 2057 two significant televised events forever change public perception of Lorelei. The first showed her being ineffective against a villain called the Compressor, and caused public questioning of whether she was a true superhero or even had any powers. The second publicly revealed that she was Stephie Dallimore - as well as the fact that she was even more beautiful then believed when she was not pretending to be just either Lorelei or Stephie.
In Decemeber 2057 Lorelei's first movie, the Redmond Flint movie Rift opened. Her movie career had made her perhaps the most famous TransMat commuter, living in Colonial Bay while she films in Hollywood.
