Character Name: Mystique Alternate Identities: Raven Darkholme Player Name: NPC
APPEARANCE
Hair Color:	Red-orange
Eye Color:	Yellow, no pupils
Height:	5' 10"
Weight:	120 lbs
Description:
Mystique is a vision of unique and remarkable beauty.  She has blue skin, red hair, yellow eyes and is usually clad in dark colors.  Her clothing is, in fact, camouflage created by her powers as she normally is naked at all times.  This is how she can change from form to form apparently immediately, thus including her size and clothing. She usually appears to wear dark tights with a toga or other loose clothing in red or similar colors on top.  Whatever she wears while in her 'game face', she usually incorporates one or more small skulls (physical or pictorial ones) on a headband, necklace, belt and so on, which is, sort of, her trademark.
BACKGROUND
Little has been revealed about Mystique's past. Indeed, since she can eliminate the outward signs of aging with her shape-changing power, it is not known exactly how old she is. She apparently learned to use her shape-changing power at a very early age, for there is no evidence known to the public or the United States government that Raven Darkholme ever looked like anything but a normal human being. Years ago Mystique had an affair with the mutant Sabretooth and they had a son, Graydon Creed, the recently assassinated presidential candidate. Mystique has also claimed to be the mother of Nightcrawler, a member of the X-Men, as the result of a liaison with another, unnamed man. Mystique is known to be a longtime friend of the mutant Destiny who is now deceased. At some point in recent years Mystique became the protectress of the young mutant named Rogue, and looked upon Rogue as a surrogate daughter. At the same time she maintained another identity, that of Mallory Brickman, the wife of U.S. Senator Ralph Brickman. They even had a daughter, Gloria. Mystique had concealed her superhuman powers and criminal intentions so well over the years that, as Darkholme, she was able to rise rapidly through the United States Civil Service to the trusted position of Deputy Director of the Defense Advanced Research Planning Agency (DARPA) in the United States Department of Defense. This position gave her access to military secrets and to advanced weaponry, both of which she used for her own criminal and subversive purposes. To help her in her criminal activities, Mystique organized the third incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which originally consisted of herself, Avalanche, the Blob, Destiny, and Pyro. Mystique named her group after the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, a subversive organization founded by Magneto in his criminal days. The third Brotherhood first became notorious when it attempted to intimidate the public by assassinating Senator Robert Kelly, who was investigating what he perceived as the possible menace posed by the existence of superhuman mutants and other superhuman beings. The X-Men thwarted the assassination attempt, and the Brotherhood later clashed with the X-Men on other occasions, as well as with the Avengers and Dazzler. Rogue was a member of the Brotherhood for a time, but finally left to join the X-Men, in order to find help in learning how to deal with her superhuman powers. Recently, anti-mutant sentiment among normal human beings has greatly increased, and the federal government has launched its own covert anti-mutant program, Project Wideawake. Believing that the times had thus become too dangerous for the Brotherhood to continue its criminal activities, Mystique went to Dr. Valerie Cooper, special assistant to the head of the National Security Council, and offered the Brotherhood's services to the government. Cooper agreed to convey the offer to the President, on the condition that the Brotherhood pass a test she imposed: the capture of Magneto. The Brotherhood, now renamed Freedom Force, succeeded in bringing Magneto to the authorities (although, in fact, they did so only because he voluntarily surrendered to them), and soon afterwards officially entered the government's employ. In return for entering the government's employ as Freedom Force's leader, Mystique received a presidential pardon for all criminal charges against her, but the pardon would be revoked if any member of Freedom Force was found committing a crime. Recently, Mystique fled X-Factor and hid from them by returning to her secret identity as Mallory Brickman, the Senator's wife.
POWERS/TACTICS
Mystique is a mutant metamorph. She can psionically shift the atoms and molecules of her body and of whatever clothing she is wearing so as to change her and its appearance. As a result she can cause herself to look and sound like an exact duplicate of any human, humanoid, or semi-humanoid being of either sex, wearing virtually any kind of clothing. Her control is so exact that she can precisely duplicate another person's retina pattern in her own eyes, finger, palm and skin-pore patterns on her own hands and skin, and vocal cords to match voices to the point of corresponding voiceprints. Mystique, however, is limited by her inability to diminish or increase her own mass at will. As a result, while she can make herself look exactly like a person who is physically bigger than herself, she will not weigh as much as the real person does. Although she can maintain the form of a person of her height, weight, and build indefinitely (as with her own appearance as Raven Darkholme), the longer that she maintains the form of a person physically bigger than herself, the greater the strain she feels. If she maintains that bigger form for too long a period, the length of which is directly proportional to the difference in size between that form and her normal one, she will collapse and automatically revert to her normal form. Mystique cannot duplicate the powers of the person she imitates: for example, when she turned herself into a duplicate of Nightcrawler, she did not gain the ability to teleport. As yet Mystique has not demonstrated any ability to adopt the form of non-humanoid beings, animals, plants, or non-living objects. It is conjectured that she could not imitate any of these without interfering with the proper functioning of her internal organs and possibly dying, but the truth, like much regarding Mystique, remains shrouded. She has also clearly stated that she is always naked and she merely makes her skin look and feel like other materials to simulate clothing.
PERSONALITY/MOTIVATION
Mystique has often been described as a heartless terrorist.  She has gained this reputation from being an intense fighter for mutant rights.  One could in fact say that Mystique lives the life of the stereotypical mutant outlaw, rebel and freedom fighter. She feels that all mutants are oppressed and hunted by mankind, and that the mutants have to strike back for their own protection.  She is a capable and confident leader as long as her goals are clear, and as long as her leadership position is not threatened.  She will easily resort to extreme, questionable tactics. Thus, leading the Brotherhood or the Freedom Force, all the members being of low morale fiber, was ideal for her.  For these reasons, she thinks of Professor Xavier's school as a cult, the X-Men being misguided individuals. Needless to say, her actions leave few friends behind, but lots of enemies.  She is, of course, wanted in many countries around the world. She believes in staying emotionally cold and physically hard on her missions, to better do the job at hand.  She is driven to extremes by her own inner anger and pain.  She trusts no one, and is herself very untrustworthy; she is bound to turn against you in the end (if for no real reason then just for the heck of it). With her strong opinions, she prefers to lead or to work as a free agent.  She seems to believe in the adage that doing the thing yourself is the best way to get the thing done. She will kill to get the job done, but she has a hard time hurting people when she recognizes some of herself in them (hinting at deep personal issues).  Pleading to her sense of nostalgia might work. She does not enjoy killing other mutants, but will do so if they are considered beyond 'rescue' or working for the 'other side'.  Having been adventuring for several decennia, Mystique is more than a little paranoid; it is easy to convince her that someone is after her. Offering her freedom and protection or even amnesty, like the government did or Xavier does, seems to make her really interested in working with anyone.  She is not beyond working as a double agent either, just for the heck of it. She may alter her appearance a million times a day, but she never really changes.  She is rarely seen in her true form.  The reason for this is, in fact, that she hates her own real looks.  She has several common aliases that she uses, complete with their own personality quirks, and which are known by well-informed authorities. She often reveals her true self before her opponents in the field, even more often so before combat, and considers this revelation to be her 'game face'; she appears to like the confusion and surprise that this causes. In any threatening situation, she is prone to change form and bluff her way out, or interrogate people while being their best friends.  She seems to gain pleasure from exhibiting behavior that indicates a marked decrease in her mental stability; it is unclear when she really is mentally ill and when she is only playing at being ill. In her free time she likes to read (particularly Oscar Wilde) and club around in one guise or another.  The saying goes, she can be anything you want her to be, except predictable.

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