Kara Makenna

== Information ==
=== Pre-Game History ===
Kara was born in Chicago. This would not have been remarkable, considering her current situation, except that the date in which she came into the world was 1865. Kara has no memory of these early days, but, had there been decent record-keeping in that particular era, they would have shown her to have entered a local orphanage around age two, her birth parents nowhere to be found. So passed four uneventful years - during this time, Kara was completely and utterly normal, acting as any other toddler would have. However, this all changed in October of 1871.
Some people swore it was a falling star, others called it a bizarre industrial accident. Whatever it was, something crashed out of nowhere into the orphanage grounds - something small and burning. Kara was closest to the object, and, with typical childhood curiosity, reached out to pick it up. It turned out, as she would much later learn, the object was a physical manifestation of a rare and mythical creature - a salamander, a fire elemental. What it was doing there, Kara still doesn't know, but at the moment she picked it up, she became its vessel. The object uncoiled in her hand, raced up her arm, and burned into the back of her skull.
The date was, officially, October 8th, 1871. The same date and time the city caught fire, and burned for two days straight. In the search for survivors, and the recovery work, no one thought anything of a toddler wandering around the streets near the worst of the blaze, miraculously unscathed, save for a circular burn on the back of her neck. The foster care system being nothing more than "survival of the fittest" back in those days, the girl, apparently mute and unresponsive to most stimuli, was left to fend for herself. And likely would have died, were it not for a couple who had lost their own child in the blaze. Their daughter had been about the same age as Kara, and they took her in. She was judged to be about six, and, by today's standards, developmentally delayed. She didn't speak until she turned 12, and then it was to people no one else could see. The couple were simply relieved to see their child speaking, and thought little over it.
Until she put her hand in the stove one day. Her entire body ignited, but the girl, bizarrely enough, appeared to be... enjoying herself, smiling and laughing for the first time, holding up her hands as if cradling something. She was unceremoniously put out with a bucket of water, and discretely put away in a mental hospital. Three days later, the place burned to the ground, with no survivors.
Except one.
Kara drifted around the city after that, withdrawing from society, barely scraping by on the streets. She was frightened - had nowhere else to go, and no idea of what to do with herself. How she survived, she doesn't quite remember; it's likely she was bounced from homeless stranger to stranger, seeking shelter and support wherever it was offered, whatever the cost was. She knows she was taught to read, taught herself to do basic math. And by the time she was noticed by someone willing to help her on a more permanent basis, fifty years had gone by. Somewhere along the line, the little girl had hit age 30 and never grown a day older. The 1920's were in full swing, and she'd caught the eye of a painter of the era. Something about the "heat in her eyes". In exchange for allowing him to use her as a model, he took her in, and filled in the gaps of her education, trying to civilize her.
She fell in love with him, completely dependent on him for everything to the point of never leaving the apartment. Her odd childhood had faded into the background, until, once again, she lit herself on fire. This time, while she was alone, and trying to light a cigarette. Her entire hand went up in flames, but the experience was more tingling than horrifically painful. The past came rushing back to her - the hell of the asylum, abandonment by her parents, and the fire that followed. Terrified now, she fled, taking as much cash as she could, never explaining her departure to the man.
She left Chicago, afraid of seeing her painter, and wandered the country, mostly looking for answers, but not having any real idea of what she was doing. She never really connected with anyone, afraid they'd find out what she was, and growing increasingly aware of her apparent agelessness.
She did, however, make one last serious connection. It was in New York, and Kara was struggling to hold down a waitressing job. She made friends with one of the other waitresses, and they actually grew fairly close to one another. One night, after a late shift, Kara was waiting outside for her friend to join her - they'd walk home together these late nights, safer that way - but the woman didn't come out of the diner. Kara went back in to check on her after a while, thinking maybe she was locked in the bathroom again or something, only to find her friend being assaulted by one of the cooks. In an attempt to save the other woman, Kara inadvertently called on her abilities. She lacked the control over the flames she assumed she'd had, and the entire building burned. Only Kara walked out, never returning to New York.
One hundred years after she was "born", she made her way down to New Orleans, and finally heard the word "salamander", in more than just the slimy little guys under logs. Fire elementals. Human possession. It seemed like a good enough connection for her, but she wanted more information. She wanted to know exactly what had happened to her, and how to control it.
After that, she delved further into the supernatural, following the guidance of a voodoo priestess, a couple Catholic priests, spiritualists, aging hippies, pagan rituals, and UFO enthusiasts. It was sort of a crazy time, especially during the 1960's, and the spiritual movement. Kara never had a working relationship with anyone, not after her artist, but she did engage in a fair amount of things healthy adults tend to engage in. She wound up pregnant and alone, but determined. She did everything right, or so she thought, and everything seemed normal with the pregnancy. No one was ever quite clear on what happened, but towards the end, Kara suddenly keeled over in horrific pain, and went into labor well over two months early.
They delivered the child via C-section, and discovered that it appeared to have been burned, or boiled as it were, inside its mother.
She ran from New Orleans, dropped off the radar again, only surfacing in the 21st century when the local paper ran a story on spontaneous immolations in the city she'd stopped in. She came forward to help the authorities, offering her knowledge and experience, finally attempting to reconnect with people. Her help landed her a more permanent place working with the police department, as a consultant, and paired with an irritable man, and his haunted hat -- and by "haunted" we mean it could generate a wolf made of smoke, a wolf which was named 'Fedora' and was extremely protective of the irritable man. His name was Jacob Randall, and he quickly became the most important person in her life. They had an extremely rocky start, but over time, they started to become friends. Which was more than Kara could ever have hoped for, given past experience.
And, as partnerships such as these are wont to do, theirs turned into something more, after a long while, and various incidents involving a trip to England and a rampaging snow fairy-spirit-thing. Jacob stayed by her, and refused to judge her for the supernatural failings -- which meant a very great deal to Kara. So... they started dating. Covertly -- seeing as they were still employed together and that never ended well if it was exposed. Along the way, after a particularly spectacular evening, Jacob discovered he had a talent for magic, something neither of them had any idea about before he suddenly destroyed, and then repaired a table lamp with a spell. All the more reason to keep things quiet, they supposed. Unfortunately, they didn't keep it as much of a secret as they'd thought.
A man called Warren West -- also capable of using magic, though his was far more destructive in nature than Jacob's -- abducted Kara with the intent of using her as a way to get to Jacob, and through him, to the spirit haunting his hat. Or, the "Summon" as he called it. He locked her in his basement, using magic to keep her there. He monologue-d and tossed her around a bit, until the Salamander intervened. It took over control, through Kara's unconscious permission, and used its own power to burn through Warren's wards, and set the house on fire, knowing it and its host would survive the blaze, while the man likely would not. The Salamander was able to hold out until Jacob managed to arrive, and perform an epic rescue. Only it had used too much of its own power in the effort, and was forced to draw on other sources -- namely Kara's spirit and her very self.
She was basically a vegetable until the Salamander and Jacob managed to yank her back from a sort of dream-world. Then she spent the next few days in bed, trying to recover. She never learned the name of the man who took her, before she awoke in the Keep, only that Fedora, Jacob's wolf-spirit-thing, knew who he was.
=== Game History ===
=== Personality ===
During her wanderings amongst the supernatural experts, Kara slowly changed from being hopelessly dependent on others to almost completely closed-off and independent. It was the incident with the painter that actually began it, and the diner fire solidified the idea in her mind. Getting close to people meant they would find out about her abilities, and they would either use her, or lock her away. Even if that didn't happen, the fire would come anyway, and people would die - whether she was trying to help them, or protect herself. It's not a logical progression of thought, but the fear gradually began to drive Kara more and more towards introversion, and self-reliance. Her need for someone to help her, to point her in the right direction, still exists, however buried.
This independence is sort of a double-edged sword. She refuses to ask for help, even when it's simply not possible for her to do things on her own. She'll try, she has tried, and damn the consequences. Her pride, and her independence combine to make it extremely difficult for her to actually get the help she knows she needs, half the time. It's probable that she uses her pride as an excuse to brush off offers of assistance, to keep her dependent tendencies repressed.
Kara tends to be blunt, brusque and aggravating. People skills don't come easily to her, and she's more inclined to be snappish and insulting, as opposed to helpful and eager to please. Certain social graces are difficult for her to grasp - sharing, asking nicely, etc. She tends to push people away, with both her independent streak, and her lack of people skills. But, as much as she pushes people away, she's afraid of being physically isolated, as well as psychologically. Even if she doesn't have anyone she's close to, they're still there, in a sense. She can see them, reach out and touch them, if so inclined. The option is there, and that's important to her. They just can't get too close, as much as she'd like them to - thus the pride, the independence.
Because of her difficulty with people, those who stick with her, tolerate her, and even actually like her, are very important to her. Pride prevents her from admitting it, however, but she does try to reciprocate their friendships, when she can - usually through little gestures that may be difficult to notice, on occasion. Or by setting on fire whatever may be threatening them. She's got a pretty broad definition of self-defense.
Kara's a basic person at heart. If she gets by, stays out of trouble, and doesn't wind up hospitalized, she figures she's doing all right. Despite her time with the hippies and the voodoo folk, she doesn't really go in for all that existential thought. She's fairly grounded that way.
=== Appearance ===
A lot of Kara's physical appearance is average - she's not very tall, lacks a supermodel figure, and lacks any overtly striking features. She's average height, leaning toward the "curvy" side, weight-wise. The most noticeable thing about her is probably her hair. Kara is a natural redhead, and it's a very bright red. Aside from that, she has a stylized salamander tattoo on one shoulder, and two scars more severe-looking than the general collection of scars everyone gets in life. The first is on the back of her neck, where her skull joins at the vertebrae. It's round, about the size of a quarter, and looks like a severe burn scar. The second is a line across her lower abdomen, which is probably recognizable as a C-section scar.
Kara's PB is Jaime Ray Newman.
=== Abilities, Skills and Talents ===
Kara can set herself on fire. She can control what the fire burns, so long as it's part of her. Basically, if she's sitting on a couch, and on fire, she can control if the couch catches fire or not. But, should she ignite said couch, and the fire spread from couch to the drapes, she couldn't stop it. Therefore, she has to be extremely careful of what she chooses to set ablaze. She can call up fire within a ten-foot radius of herself, in smaller amounts - a spark here and there, or a small fireball. She can't throw fire, just call it up to burn an existing fuel source. She has recently discovered an ability to pull fire from an existing source -- like a torch or match. But has yet to figure out where to go from there. Meaning, once she has a ball of fire in her hand, she has to do something with it, which entails igniting something, or putting it back where she found it.
Because her ability, or condition, depending on how you look at it, consumes so much of her overall energy, she has a ridiculously fast metabolism, requiring a much higher daily caloric intake than the average human being - the more she uses her fire power, the more she has to consume. Too little, and she runs the risk of pushing herself past the limit until someone wakes her up enough to shove some fruit juice or energy drink down her throat. Too much, and she'll gain weight like any other person.
She also doesn't age. She has no idea why, or if this is permanent. She experiences sickness, and injury - except for burns - so, she is by no means immortal. Simply ageless. She very rarely, if ever, succumbs to viral or bacterial infection. As a result of her condition--which is never quite identified beyond a parasitic infestation of a salamander--her inner fire, as it were, literally burns such things to nonexistence. It keeps her healthy, but it also caused the death of her child. The fire thought of the fetus as an invader, competition, and eliminated it.
Should Kara over-extend herself, it is entirely possible that the salamander will take over her body. This occurred when it first took her as its host, and again when the asylum burned. Both times, it took her over so completely, and used so much of its power, that it was forced to draw on her very being -- her memories and her Self. The only way to keep her, and therefore it, alive, was to exchange Names, to give her something to latch onto, and drag herself back from the brink. Because of this, she has some degree of control over the Salamander, and it cannot take her over entirely, not unless she is unconscious or otherwise incapacitated. Should it do so for too long, however, she risks losing all of herself once more.
In the Keep... she will only be able to summon the fire within a ten-foot radius. Attempting to ignite flesh will leave burns -- up to the second degree, but flesh will not ignite completely. While she will still be able to turn herself into a human torch, and pull fire from various sources, the use of her powers will leave her much more exhausted -- and hungry -- than it would have, back in her world. The Salamander can still take her over, however, its ability to augment her literal firepower will not work. 
== Relationships ==
=== Castmates ===
=== Other Characters ===
Category:Active
Category:Characters
Category:Original Character