Sunbird
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Dawn’s powers are believed to be derived from a Mayan artifact that her missionary father acquired as part of his on-going research regarding links between Mayan history and the peoples described in the Book of Mormon. The artifact is a feathered headdress which Dawn wears. When she dons the headdress, she is transformed into the “Sunbird”, with feathered wings, talon-like hands, and an array of powers. The headdress is believed to be part of the ancient regalia of the high priestess of Kukulkan, the feathered serpent, also called Quetzacoatl by the Aztecs.
Contents
Sunbird’s Origin
Dawn grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her Mormon parents. She was devastated when her missionary father announced that they would be moving to Guatemala so he could work at the Quetzaltenango Mission. She had always known this was a possibility - they had all become fluent Spanish speakers in anticipation, but it still hurt to have to leave all her high school friends in the middle of her junior year.
Her father had long been fascinated by the archaeological evidence pointing to Central America (and Guatemala and the Yucatan in particular) as being the region in which many of the events of the Book of Mormon took place, and the belief that Christ appeared to the Mayan people as Kukulkan, or Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent. He filled the library at the mission, where Dawn spent much of her afternoons working on “homeschooling” assignments, with artifacts of the Mayan people. One artifact was a feathered headdress recently recovered from a newly discovered underground temple.
One day, Dawn was alone in the library and heard a strange mystical chanting. It seemed to radiate from the headdress – calling to her. She placed it on her head and was transformed into the Sunbird – a woman with feathered wings, breath of fire, and talon-like claws. The headdress is believed to be part of the ancient regalia of the high priestess of Kukulkan, the feathered serpent, also called Quetzacoatl by the Aztecs.
Research indicates that there is another piece to the Lost Regalia of Kukulkan. There is a collar which is meant to be worn with the headdress, collectively representing the two aspects of the feathered serpent. Rumor has it that the Serpentine Collar is in the possession of a long line of Aztec priestesses who are actively seeking the Feathered Headdress, and will resort to any measure to obtain it. The violence of these priestesses, and especially their leader who calls herself Sky Serpent, has led to speculation that the Collar is a kind of opposite force to the headdress, representing night, darkness, and destruction. This faction could potentially interfere with missions in which Sunbird is involved. Exercise all due caution.
Sunbird and the US Marshals
Dawn’s service with the US Marshals began soon after first acquiring the headdress while a teen in Guatemala. She was by chance present at an attempt by several marshals to apprehend a fugitive with powers in the inner city in Quetzaltenango. There would likely have been considerable damage to the marshals and innocent bystanders if Sunbird had not intervened. The US Marshals conducted weekly flights to Guatemala for fugitive recovery and transport, and for the transport of illegal immigrants back to their country of origin. The marshals conveyed Sunbird to the Mexico City foreign field office which oversees the JPATS (Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System) operations in Central America.
Official records indicate that in 2003 the Mexico City foreign field office chief obtained approval from then Attorney General Gonzales to offer Sunbird a “student internship” through the Centralized Student Career Experience Program – usually only open to undergraduate juniors and seniors, which included scholarship dollars for college preparatory coursework with an emphasis on field experiences (PrepaTec Bicultural Interdisciplinaria) and an undergraduate degree at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Mexico City. These funds were made available from the then well-funded but still incipient Statesmen program.
Upon graduation, Dawn attended the standard 17 and a half weeks of US Marshal training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy in Brunswick, Georgia, and accepted a position with the US Marshals in Utah, where she has settled near her maternal grandparents.
Sunbird and the Statesmen
Utah Governor Herbert initially nominated Deseret Pioneer for the state’s representative to the Statesmen, because the direct involvement by former Attorney General Gonzales was thought to make Sunbird a politically controversial choice to recommend to new Attorney General Holder. When Deseret Pioneer was put on inactive duty, due to a field injury, Herbert reconsidered Sunbird. One of his aides had noted that her “reliance on solar energy” could be used to reinforce Herbert’s Energy Security initiatives, which include advocacy of solar, wind, nuclear, and clean coal alternative fuels. It has been leaked to the press that she is a practicing Mormon, though her identity remains secret. There was some concern that her costume was too immodest given this background, but it has also been made public that the radiant pulses from her chest that are constantly required during active service burn through any more modest covering, rendering the effort moot.
As a relatively recent addition to the Statesmen, Sunbird is still getting to know the other heroes in the supergroup, including Foxhound, Sister Salem, Lady Incendiary and the others. [ooc: I'll add links to you as you create your pages!]
Personality
Psychiatric evaluation indicates that she is stable and self-reliant. She continues to practice the Mormon faith. She is estranged from her father, but maintains contact with her mother and is close to her maternal grandparents.
Allies and Enemies
As a member of the Southwest Division of the Statesmen, she has been recently dispatched to the Arizona desert to address problems in the amusement park Snake Gulch.
This was a bittersweet assignment for Dawn since it brought back memories of visiting the park as a child with her parents, when they still lived in Utah. It was one of her happiest memories of time spent with her father from whom she is now estranged. Fighting to defend the park was like fighting to preserve that good memory, and the hope that they would one day be reconciled.
She remembered her youthful hero worship of Belle Steele and how her father had explained that the tin stars worn by the sheriffs were an emblem of their role as peacekeepers for the town. He explained that they used tin stars because they originally cut them from the lids of tin cans. Dawn reckons that this fond early memory is one of the reasons she ultimately became a federal marshal.
Of late, she has been joining forces with Lady Incendiary and Willem Wendel to investigate signs of Mechanon's presence.
Sunbird recently joined heroes from the Statesmen and MetaS.W.A.T to save the mayor from an impending attack. She enjoyed helping out, and also getting to know some of the heroes better afterwards. Friends from MetaS.W.A.T include Psionistar, Seroyio the Hunter, and Justice.
