Scythe

History

Born to Ana and Aleksy Krol in Warsaw, Poland, Vasilia Alka Krol was Ana’s first and only child from a previous unhappy marriage. Vasilia’s father had left Ana in the earliest stages of pregnancy and so was/is unaware of the existence of his daughter. Throughout Vasilia’s childhood Ana went in and out of institutions for paranoid delusions involving her ex-husband returning and harming or taking away their daughter. In addition, Ana was a mutant with the ability to grow detachable bones through her skin, a fact which she managed to keep hidden from the world, though it doing so fueled her paranoia. Despite this, Vasilia’s childhood in Poland was reasonably happy, given she was too young to fully understand the extent of her mother’s problems and the loving support given by her step-father, sister and grandmother.

Sadly, when she was six, an apartment fire took the lives of her family, leaving her an orphan. Vasilia only escaped by squeezing out a narrow basement window. The broken glass of which left scars around her mouth. After being placed in an orphanage, it was not long before she was adopted by the Fishers, a childless couple from Staten Island. Not long after her adoption, the Stephanie Fisher gave birth to Joel Fisher, who, as the children got older, became very close to his older sister. This proved vital when, at thirteen, Vasilia discovered other changes accompanying puberty, when, following an intense migraine, she found an armor of bone had grown about her temples. Joel tried to help her hide her mutant powers, but when she caused an earthquake that felled a tree in the yard, the Fishers found out and subsequently threw her out of the house.

Vasilia struggled for several months to stay close to her family, but when her parents began making up stories of drug addiction and threatened to call the cops she was finally driven away from Staten Island to live on the streets of Brooklyn and, later, Manhatten. Where she seemed to have found long-supposed dead step-sister Kassia

Frequent blackouts for extended lengths of time made finding a stable situation difficult. Vasilia managed to attend the First Choice School (an institution for transient youth) but frequently missed class. When questioned, she could never satisfactorily account for her absence, not remembering the reason herself. Often she’d find herself in strange places, accompanied only by her sister who would insist they walked there together, though Vasilia had no recollection. Early on there was an incident where Vasilia awoke with blood streaming down her face and Kassia pulling glass shards from cuts around her eyes. Kassia refused to answer any questions regarding the incident.

More recently, due to poor nutrition and frequents nights in doorways, Vasilia contracted pneumonia. This was soon accompanied by more frequent blackouts, the most recent found her in Hell’s Kitchen, New York being man-handled into submission by several police officers. Assuming she was being attacked, Vasilia became hysterical and had to be restrained and rendered unconscious before being brought into police custody. A social worker assigned to her case, upon becoming suspicious as Vasilia’s lack of memory leading up to her apprehension, had the girl hypnotized and discovered she suffered from multiple personality disorder. The social worker, Katherine Fields, not wanting the girl to spend her life sedated in a mental institution (the state’s cheaper alternative to sending her to federal mutant holding facilities), brought the girl to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters rather than follow the court’s orders. To prevent another episode until in a location where she could be better controlled, Vasilia has not been fully apprised of her mental state. Thus, she while she does know she’s suffering from some mental disorder, she has little idea as to the nature or severity.

She has been nicknamed, “Scythe” by the police for reasons unknown to her.

Powers

-Earthquakes. Prior to her life on the streets, Vasilia could take some control over the ground and cause it to shake.

-Controlled bone growth. Vasilia can project bones out from her skin to create armor or weapons.

Mental Illness

Vasilia is afflicted with Dissociative Identity Disorder, a condition which manifests itself in the form of a second personality she reverts to when frightened or overly excited. As a result, she experiences a loss of subjective time and amnesia following her "episodes". In addition, she shows some symptoms of schizophrenia in that she can sometimes see and talk to her second personality before or after an episode. Vasilia believes this personality is a completely separates person from herself.

Given its potential for destruction and the fact that it was a display of this power that caused her parents to throw her out, she has since been unable to use her ability to control earthquakes while in her right mind. However her more powerful second personality has considerable proficiency with this ability. The second personality can also control bone growth, but with less proficiency than Vasilia. They can use it to create claws and blades while Vasilia can arm and armor herself. Because she can use this power to protect herself, Vasilia has not put up mental blocks against it.