Character Contest 38: Random Name II
My 2nd favorite entry was Shadow Spinner. Another character that I am re-visiting to include in my meta-verse. Definitely change the name from “Mubarak.” (I just plucked the name from a newspaper article on Egypt – Hosni Mubarak, the now ousted leader). Otherwise, her backstory is pretty much set.
Her costume is very provactive. I wanted her to have a “Westernized” look and attitude. As for the design itself, the right arm is way off.
Shadow Spinner
Close-up
Origin
Kanika Mubarak is a rarity among superheroes in the Arab world for she is a superheroine.
Her six older brothers were radicals in Egypt. Fearing for their only daughter’s life, the Mubaraks sent her to live in England when she was two years old. Her family owned a shipping company. They were very rich; able to afford Kanika’s education. Though her family kept in touch, Kanika found herself to be more Western. Her favorite activities were clubbing and fashion.
When she was eighteen, her parents were killed by a suicide bomber while they were on a business trip to Iraq. To do this day, she does not know that the bombing was an assassination. Her own brothers had funded the attack. They sought to inherit the shipping business.
At University, she met a group of pagans. Druids who taught her ancient arts. She began to study her own Egyptian roots. The gods and magic long forgotten after the rise of Islam and Coptic Christianity. She created her own eclectic style of magic. A mix of dancing and elemental magic borrowing from all over the world with heavy Pharonic influence. She called her new art “Shadow Spinning” after the secrecy of the metaphysical arts and her own exaggerated dance-inspired incantations. Kanika sought to start her own school. A center where all could come together to grow spiritually. That would change when she turned twenty.
The Egyptian government had seized the Mubarak family fortune due to an “irregularity” in her parents’ will. The brothers then openly revolted. They marched on Cairo. During the rioting, two brothers were killed and one was arrested. The other three had stayed away from the coup. Not for fear of their own safety, but to carry on the fight.
Kanika decided to return to Egypt. Not knowing that her brothers were behind the efforts to overthrow the government. Initially, she took their side. Even using her powers to protect protestors, but never deliberately harm anyone.
She began to question her brothers’ tactics when they discovered her powers. They wanted Kanika to be more aggressive. They wanted her to kill their enemies. She would have no part of it.
Though she believed in her brothers’ cause, Kanika feared their ever-increasing demands. Not just for her own life, but she did not want to harm her own family. Kanika had nowhere to go. She was on the Egyptian Security Forces watch list. She could not stay with her brothers. Kanika enrolled in the American University of Cairo. Where she would be under the protection of the U.S. government.
She assumed the identity of Shadow Spinner in her fight for reforms. As a vigilante, she is a priority not just for the Egyptian government but the reformers themselves. She has broken riots, protecting rioters and police alike. As a woman, she is an inspiration to women throughout the world. Especially in Egypt and the Middle East. Because she is a woman, she is perceived as a threat to radicals. Even the CIA, MI-5, and Massad are interested in recruiting her.
Shadow Spinner now tries to fight more covertly. Her last battle was against the jihadist Haboob (“Sandstorm”). The encounter took out several blocks of a Cairo suburb. Praise, no civilians were killed but almost a dozen were seriously wounded. She does not believe joining any one side will necessarily protect her. Rather, it would escalate an already violent struggle.
