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Claire Cavendish
Name Claire Angela Cavendish
Role Head Teacher
Second Role Infil/Exfil
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Powers | Invisibility & Teleportation | |
| Powers Description | Claire thrives in the shadows. When out of direct UV-light she can turn invisible, though it doesn't do anything to mute her steps or other sounds she makes. In circumstances where she tries to turn invisible while in UV-light it burns her skin, even a short term exposure causes second degree burns. In addition, she can also teleport from one spot not in direct UV-light to another, as long as both starting and ending locations are in at most dim artificial light and either intimately known and memorised or within direct line of sight. The further she travels the more it wears her out and she's not been able to do so for further than several hundred meters. Following what has been dubbed 'the surge' during Halloween 1992 Claire's powers have been developing and with some practice she's been able to take one other person with her on short teleports, though it remains impossible for her to turn another person invisible. |
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| Alias | Tenebris | |
| Age | 37 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 1.67m | |
| Hair Color | Dark Purple | |
| Eye Color | Grey | |
| Physical Description | Claire stands out, her mutation has manifested in purple skin and matching hair colour. This makes it impossible for her to go around pretending she'd not a mutant and she leans into the exotic nature of her appearance. She does this by dressing in complementary colours, like teal and jade. She keeps her hair long and flowing and prefers wearing it loose. She keeps in shape with a training regiment focused on speed and dexterity, primarily by playing squash. |
Family
| Parents | Duke Anthony Cavendish Duchess Arabella Cavendish (née Rothchild) |
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| Sibling(s) | Lord Edward Cavendish |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Claire was raised very well and posh. She's had some issues letting go of the cold, stiff-upper-lip, distance that she was taught was 'proper' and is liable to comment on improper etiquette at the dining table. Though she has long since given up on teaching the students to this same level she expects the faculty to lead by example. When you get past the heavily groomed exterior Claire is an empathic and warm individual and despite being burnt in the past she quickly includes people in her inner circle. Though a certain level of secrecy is required for her to be successful in her job. | |
| Strengths & Weaknesses | The name Cavendish normally opens doors in this country but it has been made abundantly clear to Claire that she should no longer use it widely, especially to push her agenda. Now it attracts unwanted attention on her endeavours. Sometimes from within the community she's trying to protect and nurture who wish to use her heritage to undermine the anti-mutant movement. On a personal level, Claire has always been solitary, having grown up in a time when people who were different were ostracised and segregated. The family's private wealth was able to afford her a good education and she's well-practised in etiquette and backroom politics as a result. While mentally strong she's not a physical match for most people, relying on going undetected. If caught she has mostly deftness on her side. |
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| Ambitions | Full acceptance and integration of Mutants into society with no need for secret societies and institutes to protect the vulnerable from those who would take advantage. | |
| Hobbies & Interests | Claire is highly interested in Philosophy and Ethics, especially in relation to the historical treatment of minorities and non-hierarchical approaches to organising communities and societies. When she was young she was an avid dancer, however, her interest in team sports and activities waned quickly after her mutation manifested and she has developed a taste for solitary approaches to sports and health. She still dances, but mostly when alone. In addition, she also rollerblades long distances. This is all in addition to playing squash with colleagues in the private court built at Avalon. At the start of the '92 school year she bought a Chevrolet Camaro Z28 classic car, which she intends to take for tours of the Scottish highlands once it's been made road worthy once more. |
| Personal History | When Claire was born in 1955 the world was recovering from the global impact of two world wars in the first half of the century. In that light, her position was privileged being born into a English family of some repute. Her Grandfather had a seat in the House of Lords and the family business in Real Estate allowed the extended family to build their wealth in the rebuilding of London and Western Europe. Her father, Anthony, was the firstborn son slated to take her grandfather's position in the family business and in politics. When Claire was born with purple eyes they didn't think too much of it, and she could enjoy the safe and secure education and upbringing their family allowed. She attended Wycombe Abbey as a boarding student from the age of eleven. She especially thrived in the arts part of the curriculum loving being on stage in plays and dance, or musical theatre. She did well academically and socially, that is until she turned fourteen. Slowly her hair was getting purple highlights, something she was written up for and was on the brink of being expelled due to her denying dying her hair. Corroborating her story, her mutation started to spread more broadly, colouring her skin in a more and more violet hue as well. Her parents were immediately pressured to withdraw her from the institute. They hired private tutors to allow her to finish her SATs. By the year 1969, with high marks on her SATs, she was sent off to the United States to attend a special university programme far away from the nosy UK press that was putting her family under much more scrutiny now that her father was being prepared to take over from her grandfather. It was from across the Atlantic Claire had to witness her father taking a front-row seat in the conservative push for more strict Mutant legislation. Being one of five members of a special committee in 1973. She became more and more solitary, the young girl at centre stage was almost completely gone now that everyone could call her out as a mutant with one glance. Despite the rigid and closed off educational facility for her and other wealthy and influential mutant kids, that didn't allow her off campus, her time in the US of the seventies had her explore a more free and community-driven society. She and a couple of the others, taking advantage of their abilities snuck out from under the watchful eyes of the faculty. They got themselves involved in the hippie movement that advocated peace, love and understanding for all. Her biggest regret at that time was that she missed Woodstock by a couple of weeks due to her late arrival to the states. Her friends and her fear of missing out on more historical moments due to her tendency to try and stay out of the spotlight pushed her to take a more active role. She became outspoken against American involvement in Vietnam. When a BBC camera spotted her in the crowd in 1974 her parents immediately intervened once more, pulling her back to the UK and ripping her away from everything she had built over her five years in the States. She resisted at first but with the threat of being cut off from the family wealth, she didn't have the ideological backbone she thought she would have. Back in the UK she used the influential connections she had made to start building a network of pro-mutant thinkers, legislators and activists. Her parents provided a secluded place in Wales for her and made her work with one of the local real estate endeavours out in the countryside, under the guise of allowing her to develop herself in the family business. She made sure her activities were kept a secret from her parents. In the eighties, Claire got bolder as she had been able to build some wealth of her own. Through sponsorships and gifts, she funded pro-mutant endeavours in the UK, and she also became more vocal in the office environment to push for more inclusive policies. When her father got wind of this she was given another ultimatum. She was to join an experimental programme for finding a cure for her mutation if she wished to continue access to financial resources. Having prepared for this for almost a decade Claire refused, and planned to become more involved with the Mutant cause, now freed from the Cavendish family legacy. This is when she was approached by a messenger sent by someone that's clearly had an interest in her life from a young age. The anonymous party offers an opportunity to establish an institute for kids like her, but done right. With the financial backing of the anonymous donor, Claire is able to create Avalon Institute and open its doors in 1989. It's 1992 when the institute is faced with its first real threat to its existence. A Sentinel is sent to apprehend one of the students coming back from summer break. The Quantum Knights are forced to respond in force in order to safe Oliver Bloom from being abducted. In a fierce battled they're able to neutralise the giant robot. The whole ordeal pushed the existence of the institute and the residents on the campus into the spotlight that Claire had been so deftly trying to avoid since the last time she performed Romeo & Juliet when she was thirteen. It resulted in several dozen students leaving the institute, since discretion was one of the virtues they or their legal guardians had appreciated about Avalon. With this new found fame (or infamy) came additional attention. During the latter half of the year Claire tried to navigate and balance the needs of the Institute and its residents with the need to take a position in the developing national narrative around mutants. More and more she's getting comfortable in the role of pro-mutant voice in a vast ocean of anti-mutant sentiment. |
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| Mutant Registration Status | Known Unregistered Entity | |
| Assigned House | None |
