Messier 1

**Messier 1** (also known by her upgraded title of **NGC 1952**) is a currently living guardian within the Messier Sisterhood. Her role within the sisterhood (including the Messier, Barnard and Variable-Type Carinae) includes nurturing the soulburst (souls often depicted as starbursts) before they enter their human or Terran bodies. Once the souls have entered a body and become actualized individuals, Messier 1 often acts as a maternal figure and confidant, coming in and out of the individuals life when needed.

## Human Origin

Before awakening as a Messier Guardian, Messier 1 lived as Damkianna Beleti, a midwife living in the Ubaid period of Ancient Sumer, circa 4100 BCE in the city of Eridu. Damkianna was one of many children, but as the eldest daughter in her family, was sent to a house of birthing as a child to learn the art of midwifery.

The House of Birthing became Damkianna's primary place of residence from age 11 up to her human "death" at age 44. Her first task, as a young midwife, was to bury the stillborn children at the necropolis of the goddess Ninhursag. Her devotion the deity became more pronounced as she moved up the ranks of the House of Birthing, and upon becoming the head Midwife at age 28, had the House of Birthing blessed as a shrine to Ninhursag.

Damkianna died of complications and infection from preterm labor of her last child, Enshag. She was buried with child in the Necropolis of Ninhursag until her awakening as a Messier Guardian in 1054 CE.

## Messier Sisterhood

Damkianna awoke as a Messier Sister in 1054 CE when her soul was re-engaged by The First Sloan Queen. Upon her awakening, The Sloan Queen tasked Damkianna with nurturing the soulburst garden where the souls of other soldiers and guardians would await their human or Terran bodies. While Messier 1 would not be the literal mother nor leader to the Messier Sisters, she would play the part of midwife again, helping the new sisters to be born.

## The Third Sloan Queen

On July 14th, 2015, Damkianna was named the winner of MMA 2015, and thus given the title of the new Sloan Queen. She replaces Centauri as Sloan, and will be in turn replaced by the MMA 2016 winner.

## Relationships

While Messier 1 retains some sort of spiritual relationship with all her sisters (Messier and otherwise), particular members of the Alliance have fostered stronger bonds, and Messier 1's presence in their lives are, as a result, more abundant.

### The "First Family"

Affectionately coined "The First Family" by members of the Sisterhood, this small family unit consists of Messier 1 and Messier 70 as parental figures to Messier 19.

#### Messier 70 / Adana

Messier 70 (later upgraded to NGC 6681, and given the human name Adana at birth) assumes the role of mentor and teacher to many of the developing soldiers within the Messier Sisterhood. Adana's integral role to the growth of the sisters as soldiers coincided well with the nurturing provided by Damkianna as Messier 1, and the two women naturally bonded in their respective roles. Often, the flow of development for soldiers meant the passing of hands directly from Damkianna to Adana, giving the two plenty of time to interact, and many overlapping interests in the evolution of the Alliance. Eventually, this would become fully actualized love, and the two would be forever bound as wives.

During the Inversion War, Damkianna passes her own soulburst to Adana to be nurtured before taking her own body and the corrupted soulburst of Dark Cecily into Centauri's black hole. The melding of Adana and Damkianna's soulburst upgrade Messier 70 to NGC 6681 .

#### Messier 19 / Liv

Messier 19 (named Liv Gunderson in her human body, and later upgrading to NGC 6273 as The Queen of Roses and Thorns) was an initially shy and withdrawn sister within the Alliance. Her introversion and empathetic nature bonded her specifically to Damkianna very early on in her development. When Damkianna finally passed Liv's hand to Adana for training, Damkianna made sure to keep a watchful eye on the new recruit. As Liv grew into a fully realized Messier Soldier, her bond with both Damkianna and Adana remained forever strong, looking to the two women as her parental unit.

When Liv's soul was split by The Red Dragon into the two spirits of the Queen of Roses and the Queen of Thorns, Damkianna takes Liv's soulburst and, for the first time, suspends her own soul outside her body to allow another individual's soul to enter her. This instantly transforms Damkianna into her upgraded form of NGC 1952 for the first time.

After being wounded in the Inversion War, The Sloan Queen answers Adana and Damkianna's prayers to save Liv by bringing the soldier's body into a black hole where it reverts back to a child's form in order to have a chance to regrow and rejuvenate.

### Damkianna as a Confidant

As a guiding hand, Messier 1 occasionally creates a stronger than average bond with a particular developing soldier, especially if there should be a calling for a maternal figure or confidant in that individuals life.

#### Barnard 8

After the Inversion War, Damkianna makes sure to help Barnard 8 heal spiritually. A relatively new recruit, Barnard 8 is quickly swept up in the war with Cecily, nearly succumbing to the darkness herself. Wracked with guilt, Barnard 8 confides in Messier 1 that she too was almost turned by the darkness. Damkianna attempts to sooth Barnard 8 as best she can, but knows the newly realized soldier must grow in her own self-worth before she can truly heal .

## Cosmic Object

The character of Messier 1, like all characters involved in the Messier Alliance Universe, is based on a cosmic object, in this particular case a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula known as the Crab Nebula. Historical records from China, Japan, Iraq and North America place the host star as going supernova in on July 4th, 1054 C.E. After the star inside went supernova, the subsequent outward burst of radiation illuminated the gases expanding from the central core, producing what we now see as a light nebula.

The internal star illuminating the Messier 1 Nebula is the Crab Pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star characterized by it's twin synchrotron radiation emission jets, which help give the Crab Nebula it's characteristic "wind-blown" features. The bipolar nature of the jets also give the Crab Nebula it's signature oblong oval shape, the very central point of this geometric figure being the visually perceived "bubble" containing the pulsar. The Crab Pulsar has been a popular subject of radio observation, with many recordings of the object in audio-bands recorded and subsequently analyzed. It's hyper-rapid buzzing sound is notably faster than most analyzed pulsars (which commonly sound more like a slower, beating or knocking noise). Each beat of this quickly vibrating noise indicates a full rotation of the neutron star inside, or one beat every 33.5 milliseconds, or 1,790 bpm.

## References

1. ↑ http://gabistar.deviantart.com/art/MMA-Curse-bless-me-now-with-your-fierce-tears-503769060
2. ↑ http://exploringreal.deviantart.com/art/MMA-Round-5-2015-Breaking-Through-510201949